Martial Raysse is a multi-faceted, visionary artist whose constant experimentation has been driven by a search to show reality as it is. To this end, over the years he has worked in many different media, creating oil paintings, bronze sculptures, cubic objects, neon images and films. He started as a poet, publishing his first collection of poems in 1955. Two years later his collages, featuring a mixture of objects and poems, brought him to the attention of the art world when they were included in the Contemporary Artists’ Exhibition in Nice. This led, a year later, to a one-man exhibition that drew the critical acclaim of the poet and artist, Jean Cocteau. In the 60s, using mass-produced, commonplace objects, Raysse was a major figure in the French “Nouveau Réalisme” movement. During this period he moved to New York where, in many ways anticipating the Pop Art movement, he produced his highly acclaimed Made in Japan series. His return to live in the French countryside with his wife, a fellow artist, Brigitte Aubignac, in the 1970s marked a further creative transformation, producing work in all media, inspired by rituals and mytholog.

https://www.praemiumimperiale.org/en/laureate-en/laureates-en/raysse-en (24.03.2020)