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ACM

1951 - 2023 (France)

With a career spanning thirty years, ACM is the acronym of the mythic and reclusive French sculptor, whose intricate architectures have long been prized by a select group of collectors and museums.

Originally trained as a fine artist, ACM left his studies to follow the philosophical roots of his practice. Together with his wife, the artist settled in the remote village of his childhood, constructing a home and studio from the ruins of his father’s warehouse.

Foraging in the forest for natural materials, ACM whittled fragments of chalk and presented them as board-mounted archaeologies. They announced what was to become a lifetime investigation into a semi-fictional past. At its heart lay the artist’s fascination with the discarded and forgotten, as found objects and the guts of defunct typewriters, telephones, radios and clocks were offered the chance of life anew.

ACM modestly christened his architectural oddities boulots; yet they were clearly something more. The hitherto unknown maker soon had work acquired by La Collection de l’Aracine, which then become part of the permanent collection of Lille Métropole Museum.

ACM continues to work today from his studio. His artwork is held in numerous collections in France and worldwide, including La Collection de l’Art Brut (Lausanne) and Collection Antoine de Galbert (Lyon). Exhibitions include La Maison Rouge (Paris) and The Museum of Everything (London, Paris, Rotterdam, Hobart).

A quest for identity across the ravages of time, of matter, of being, of having been and of non-being.
- Corinne Marié, ACM (2007)

EXHIBITION #7, The Museum of EVERYTHING, Museum of Old and New Art (Hobart), 2017/8
EXHIBITION #6, The Museum of EVERYTHING, Kunsthal Rotterdam (Rotterdam), 2016
INNER JOURNEYS, MAISON PARTICULIÈRE ASBL (BRUSSELS), 2013
EXHIBITION #1.1, THE MUSEUM OF EVERYTHING, CHALET SOCIETY (PARIS), 2012/13
Ainsi soit-il, Collection Antoine de Galbert - Extraits, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon (Lyon), 2011/12
AMERICAN VISIONARY ART MUSEUM (BALTIMORE), 2011
WORLD TRANSFORMERS, SCHIRN KUNSTHALLE (FRANKFURT), 2010
EXHIBITION #1, THE MUSEUM OF EVERYTHING (LONDON), 2009/10
IM RAUSCH DER KUNST, MUSEUM KUNSTPALAST (DÜSSELDORF), 2005
Inflamed with Art: Dubuffet and Art Brut, Museum Kunst Palast (Düsseldorf); Collection de l'Art Brut (Lausanne); musée d'Art moderne de Villeneuve-d'Ascq (Lille), 2005
A Corps Perdu: ABCD, une collection d'art brut, Pavillon des Arts (Paris), 2004
Les Chemins de l’Art Brut, musée d'Art moderne de Villeneuve-d'Ascq (Lille), 2003
LA PLANÈTE EXILÉE: ART BRUT ET VISION DU MONDE, LILLE METROPOLE MUSEE D’ART (LILLE), 2001
DE STADSHOF MUSEUM (ZWOLLE), 1999
Art Brut: Collection de l'Aracine, Musée d'Art Moderne de Lille Métropole, Villeneuve d'Ascq (Lille), 1997

THE CATALOUGE OF EVERYTHING EXHIBITION #6, THE MUSEUM OF EVERYTHING 2016
WORLD TRANSFORMERS: THE ART OF THE OUTSIDERS, ED. BY MARTINA WEINHART AND MAX HOLLEIN (HATJE CANTZ) 2011 
EXHIBITION #1, THE MUSEUM OF EVERYTHING (ELECTA) 2010
ACM, ED. BY JEAN-PIERRE Ritsch-Fisch, TEXTS, CORINNE MARIÉ AND THOMAS RÖSKE (J.P. RITSCH-FISCH GALERIE) 2007 
UNIVERS CACHES, L’ART OUTSIDER AU MUSEE DR GUISLAIN (LANNOO) 2007 DUBUFFET & L’ART BRUT, SAVINE FAUPIN, FRANÇOIS GIBAULT, SARAHLOMBARDI, JEAN-HUBERT MARTIN, LUCIENNE PEIRY, THOMAS RÖSKE ET MICHEL THEVOZ (COLLECTION DE L’ART BRUT MILAN/LAUSANNE) 2005
ACM, ARTIST, COLLECTOR, ARCHAEOLOGIST, BARBARA SAFAROVA (SCHIRN MAGAZINE) 6 AUG 2013
ACM, MANSARAY, RIGO 23 AND VOLYAZLOVSKY, ROBERTA SMITH (THE NEW YORK TIMES) 20 Aug 2010
VISIONARIES IN A BUBBLE, SAFE FROM CONVENTION, KEN JOHNSON (THE NEW YORK TIMES) 25 JAN 2008
UNTAMED ART FROM THE FRINGES IS A GUST OF BRACING AIR, ROBERTA SMITH (THE NEW YORK TIMES) 28 JAN 2005
ACM: ARCHITECTE DU VIDE, CHEMAMA-STEINER, BEATRICE (CREATION FRANCHE, NO. 17) JUNE 1999
LES CITADELLES D’UNE AME, JEAN-LOUIS LANOUX (CREATION FRANCHE, NO. 17) JUNE 1999