Claire Maugeais

Claire Maugeais is co-founder of Astérides in 1992, with Gilles Barbier, Jean-Christophe Nourisson and Sandrine Raquin. She had a studio there for ten years, but the archives of Triangle-Astérides do not allow us to determine the exact dates.

Claire Maugeais was born in 1964 in Angers (FR), she lives and works between Paris (FR) and Nantes (FR)

Claire Maugeais’s work is closely linked to architectural and urban space. In the 1990s, she became known for her ephemeral installations created directly on architecture using photocopies. Today, she develops her works in public space as well as in more autonomous series on varied supports borrowed from the domestic sphere (carpets, curtains, mops, etc.).

These drawings serve as studies for the development of installations on architecture (floors, walls, etc.), using graphic compositions that are random, mathematical, or language-based. Others, such as the landscapes series she began in 1989, are stand-alone works that use a thread stretched across a support. These representations are strongly inspired by the digital world.

After studying at the École des Beaux-Arts in Angers, she moved to Marseille and worked at the Friche Belle de Mai, where she co-founded, along with Gilles Barbier, Jean-Christophe Nourisson, and Sandrine Raquin, the association Astérides (an international residency, exchange, and exhibition program).

Her year in Rome, Italy, as a resident artist at the Villa Medici, allowed her to move to Paris in 1999. She was then granted a studio apartment by the Ministry of Culture. Since then, she has lived in Paris and has been teaching at the École des Beaux-Arts de Nantes Métropole since 2006.

Claire Maugeais’ work is on display during the exhibition Trabendo, 2003.