Patrizio MOSCARDELLI

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Louis Durot was born in Paris on April 22, 1939. He was something of an enfant terrible, and managed to be expelled from various schools for bad conduct. His ambition, as stated to his parents, was to earn money without having to work, and for a time, he was an “escort-boy” for a Parisian Grande Dame. He did, however, manage to get a good education in spite of himself, and received his Baccalaureate degree from Lycee Louis Pasteur in 1956. In 1960, he enrolled in the Facultie de Sciences, where he studied mathematics. He terminated his math studies in 1963, and turned his attention to engineering, working for Equipel, where he was responsible for calculating and measuring resistance for prototype nuclear generators. Equipel became a research facility, and offered Durot the opportunity to study organic chemistry. Durot directed numerous research projects for Equipel between 1966 and 1972. During this time, in fact, starting in 1964, he made many friends in the art world, gathering together artists from a variety of disciplines to form an artists commune — the Freelane Studio. Among the members were jazz journalist Gilles Brinnon, and a young painter, Jean Ihallero — a friend of the painter Maxime Defert. Through them, he met the artist Francois Arnal, who was interested in Durots’ engineering expertise for his sculptures. They got on well, and worked together for two years. Also in this circle were the actress Micheline Presle and the actor Daniel Gelin. In 1968, Arnal and Presle created Le Festival de Theatre de Chateauvallon, and through this, Durot became friends with the noted film director Ulysse Reynaud. In 1966, Francois Arnal introduced Durot to the artist Cesar, with the idea that Durot’s talents as a chemical engineer would be useful. Durot spent a year helping Cesar to master the techniques of working with polyurethane foam, with Durot searching for ways to make this fragile and ephemeral substance more stable and permanent, and more amenable to control. Cesars’ first works in this medium were flat, due to the difficulty of controlling the foam, but he went on to create his famous “expansions”. In 1968, Durot conceived a project to create more three-dimensional sculptures following a simple and precise design. It was during this time that Durot made his first polyurethane sculptures — the Champignons and Plantes Carnivores. Also in 1968, he He opened his first technical studio at 35, rue Leon. In order to support this new endeavor,( he needed more space, equipment, time and money), he created La Societe Durgalith. 1971 saw the Durat’s first works exhibited at the Salon Batimat in Paris. With this exhibition, Durot was hoping to attract the attention of architects with whom he could collaborate. Between 1971 and 1974, Durot created sixty sculptures inspired by fantastical “alien” life, mushrooms, and carnivorous plants. In 1974, Durot”s Societie Durgalith ran into problems with the Italian firm that owned Batimat. Credit Lyonnaise seized his studio and many of his sculptures, and quite a number of them were destroyed. This same year, Durot worked with the architects Sloan and Lecouter on an inflatable structure for the Pavillion Franaise in Osaka. Unfortunately, the project was never realized. Durot continued to pursue his research on polyurethanes, and gained world-wide recognition for his developments in this field. In 1977, a “student prank” had un-expectedly bad consequences. Durot was employed as an engineer at L’Usine Francaise de la Monnaie (the French mint) in Pessac. He took three kilos of “blanks”, and used them for playing slot-machines. For this, he spent seven weeks in jail, which was ended by an amnesty granted by Mitterand in 1981. During Durot’s time in prison, he took up weight-lifting, and also designed his next generation of sculptures. The spirals, feet, lips, and a series of erotic chairs...

Laure Krug. Contemporary French artist Holder of a license in plastic arts, she naturally turns to sculpture. Materials: She begins by working the soil and masters the different co...

Laure Krug. Contemporary French artist Holder of a license in plastic arts, she naturally turns to sculpture. Materials: She begins by working the soil and masters the different co...

Laure Krug. Contemporary French artist Holder of a license in plastic arts, she naturally turns to sculpture. Materials: She begins by working the soil and masters the different co...

Dario Tironi is the artist that evades the classic canons of Besharat Gallery's sculptures. But we could not remain indifferent to his fantastic, incredi...

Dario Tironi is the artist that evades the classic canons of Besharat Gallery's sculptures. But we could not remain indifferent to his fantastic, incredi...

Artist: Jim Pallas (1941) Title: Reclining “Yes” on three round wheels and one square Year: 2023 Medium: Iron, epoxy, urethane foam and steel Size: 8 x 10 x 9 inches Condition: Excel...

Artist: Jim Pallas (1941) Title: Crabby “Yes” and “No” Year: 2023 Medium: Epoxy, urethane foam Size: 3 x 4 x 1 inches Condition: Excellent Inscription: Signed and dated JIM PALLAS (...

Artist: Jim Pallas (1941) Title: Spiraling “No” Year: 2023 Medium: Pigmented Epoxy on urethane foam, iron wire, base of steel and concrete Size: 21 x 4 x 3 inches Condition: Excellen...

Artist: Jim Pallas (1941) Title: Red Flying “Fuck” with yellow and multicolored beads Year: 2014 Medium: Epoxy, urethane, ceramic, beads Size: 6 x 7 x 5 inches Condition: Excellent Inscription: Signed and dated JIM PALLAS (1941-) American painter, draughtsman, sculptor, and printmaker. An innovator of technological art beginning in the early 1960s, Pallas drew inspiration from his upbringing in Detroit, Michigan where he had early exposure to the automobile industry, its materials and design. He is recognized for having employed electronics and early computer technology to enable his sculptures to respond to external stimuli. Often the circuit boards specifically designed for a particular piece were, themselves, drawings. Throughout his varied career, Pallas has created sculptures and reliefs employing a variety of subjects often imbuing the objects with humor and irony, yet connecting them to everyday life and experiences. Represented by the preeminent Allan Stone Gallery in New York for more than two decades, Pallas’s work has been exhibited in and collected by institutions nationwide including the Detroit Institute of Art, and Columbia University. In legacy, Jim Pallas’s artwork is allied with other innovative masters of the 1960s and 70s including Red Grooms, Larry Rivers, Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenburg, Yaakov Agam, Nam June Paik, Frieder Nake, Leslie Mezei, Georg Nees, A. Michael Noll...

Artist: Jim Pallas (1941) Title: Flying Phallus and Winged Vulva Year: 2018 Medium: Pigmented epoxy on ceramic Size: 3.5 x 4 inches, each Condition: Exc...

Dan Lam x Okuda Space Skull Synthetic Enamel on Fiberglass/ Polyurethane, Foam, Resin & Acrylic 18 x 16 x 12 Okuda x Dan Lam Collab Rare collaboration between two artists who spec...