André Robillard

André Robillard is one of the most famous exponents of Art Brut. Son of a forest ranger, André Robillard was hospitalized for mental disturbance while still a teenager. After several unsuccessful attempts to live outside the hospital, Robillard was hired as an assistant for the hospital’s water-treatment plant. This job provided him with social status and a degree of independence. The same year, at the age of thirty-three, Robillard created his first rifle, which was sent to Jean Dubuffet by an enlightened connoisseur. Dubuffet carefully preserved the firearm in the Compagnie de l’Art Brut collection. Ten years later, Michel Thévoz, then curator of the brand new Art Brut museum in Lausanne, became fascinated by the rifle and encouraged Robillard to make more.

Although drawing his inspiration mainly from television, Robillard expanded his range of favorite subjects (e.g., rifles, machine guns, space craft) to include a series of supernatural animals and characters, after being overwhelmed by the work of Auguste Forestier during a visit to Lausanne. Robillard uses anything he happens to find to create his work, which is assembled with nails, scotch tape, and wire. His work is featured in several major collections of art brut.