Drawing for Pleasure

For Gilles Clément, drawing is a fundamental tool in carrying out his projects. However, his name has rarely been associated with the visual arts outside of this context.

From his student years to the present day, Gilles has developed a body of graphic work characterized by a wide variety of themes—landscapes, portraits, abstraction, vegetation, humorous comic strips, and more—created using various techniques, including ink, pencil, oil, watercolor, and wax, among others. This reflects his desire to explore the possibilities offered by different graphic media.

His artistic vocation stems from the need to express, beyond words, his curiosity about the world around him. In his youth, drawing and painting were ways for him to escape the boredom of his studies. However, his parents did not look favorably on the idea of him obtaining a fine arts degree. As a result, visual expression remained a simple pastime that he developed more or less over the years.

His graphic work is not intended for exhibition but simply fulfills a need for personal expression. Nevertheless, some of his works have occasionally been shown in collective exhibitions of a documentary or charitable nature.

He himself rejects the label of “artist” that some once tried to attach to him. He does not consider himself one, and consequently, most of his graphic works are kept either in his personal archives or in his sketchbooks.

At best, they decorate the walls of his home or those of a friend.

Color paintings on the Third Landscape. Wax on paper. 2004.
Drawings and paintings. Various techniques on paper. From the 1960s to the 1980s