3. Philippe-Charles CHIRON
Born in Pernes-les-Fontaines, PhilippeCharles Chiron is a painter.
When he was a young boy, he regularly
met a few painters, friends of his father. He discovered this talent and his passion for the arts
little by little and after taking lessons at the
"Beaux Arts" in Avignon and Lyon.
From 1969 to 1976, Philippe worked for
the theatre. He also taught literature and the history of art in the Lyon area.
In 1977 he did his first exhibition in the
"Palais du Commerce et de l'Industrie" in Avignon. He showed his works with those of Jean
Marais and Michael Lonsdale...
The same year he took part in a public
sale for "Les Perce Neige" of Lino Ventura.
From exhibitions to Galleries, the works
of Philippe, highly valued for their originality,
drove him to Poland in 1984. For this occasion,
he got a special invitation, a sort of pass, to be
able to cross the Iron Curtain.
He was indeed the first French man who
could show freely his works in Warsaw, for the
exhibition in the Desa Gallery, a state gallery.
During this Polish exhibition, he met a
lot of well-known Polish painters and he was glad
to speak to them...
He is very gifted to work with matter; he
uses the ochres of Vaucluse to which he adds dif-
ferent shades, thus highlighting his paintings, an
abstract pigmentation...
Philippe confides us: " I define my painting as a suggestion from the matter I use (the
earth) emerges a shape."
As a matter of fact, the more you admire
the paintings of the artist, the more you discover
figures standing out in the thickness of the matter
and imagination leads us into a world of his own.
In 1980, he showed his works in "La
Fontaine", then in 1986 after coming back from
Poland in the Utopia Gallery managed by Lucien
Mazenod. He took part to an homage to René
Char in 1988, a group exhibition at the Ceruse
Gallery in the Isle sur la Sorgue, a gallery managed by Henri Laugier. There he met Marcel Dumont whose studio he regularly visited in Chateaurenard en Provence. Their never-ending discussions went on in Philippe's studio in Pernesles-Fontaines.
Then followed Pierre Pecoud's Ap Art
Gallery. The two artists enriched him a lot but in
very different ways.
Today Philippe-Charles Chiron also
works for the AMA Association, managed by Rica Levy-Gourdet and Serge Mallet. They lend
works of art to private individuals or even firms.
Philippe Charles Chiron generally shows
his works in Paris, Saint-Etienne, Aix-enProvence or abroad.
An article from « La Provence », in « Les Gens d’ici », August 4th 1999