ROBERT MALAVAL Français , 1937-1980

Robert Malaval was born in Nice on 29 July 1937. His father worked for Michelin and his mother for Crédit Lyonnais. After completing his secondary education, he worked in a variety of odd jobs while at the same time trying his hand at his very first artwork, in 1955. At the age of 19, he moved to Paris and began painting in earnest. His first works, which he sold on café terraces, were washes on paper in dark colours, and already the ink, which diffused by capillary action into the texture of the paper, foreshadowed some of the efflorescences to come. After a brief period of military service, from which he was soon exempted, he settled in the Basses-Alpes and the works he produced from 1958 to 1961 bore a strong imprint of the colour and matter of the earth in the landscapes around him.

In 1961, he met Alphonse Chave, who invited him, his wife and children to settle in Vence, where he had a gallery, lent him a studio and gave him a little money each month to produce works. It was there that he discovered a material which, thanks to a small child who happened to be passing by and thought it could be eaten, became known as Aliment Blanc (white food). A few years later, Robert Malaval was back in Paris, and had become the man behind Aliment Blanc, then the man behind the "pink-white-purple" colours. He exhibited his work, lived spectacularly, played the game, then quickly tired of it and decided to call it a day. He devoted himself to a book on the Rolling Stones, and was passionate about sound. He spent whole days recording the sea, crickets and the wind.

In 1971, he staged his exhibition Transat-Marine-Campagne-Rock'n'roll, which summed up all his ideas about art, his relationship with the public and his desire to cross worlds. He created a children's game and a silkscreen album devoted to the Rolling Stones, and in 1973 the first glitters appeared in his work. He wrote "Kamikaze fin du monde" (End of the world) on a piece of clothing painted like a painting, and embarked on a major series of celestial works glittering with colour and glitters. He has crossed many universes, had many experiences, from the harshest to the most frivolous. He's looked at music, travelled the world of artists, written ghost stories, worked in show business, but none of it fascinates him any more. It was in Créteil, in 1980, that he painted like an opera performer and produced a series of breathtaking works full of life and energy. Then, around 8 August that year, he decided to end his life and shot himself in the head to the music of Blank Generation.

Marc Sanchez, 2005

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