Charles SERRUYA

Poet of "Steel Drawings" in Shadow

• Charles Serruya, the poet of the Epure Photographer, specialist in light effects and Chinese shadows, director, sculptor, underground dandy of New York and Parisian nights, Charles Serruya had a thousand lives! His wire sculptures, all refined and light, reveal a delicate graphic art, nourished by dreams and escape.

• Worked on the play of light, and uses shapes like words, unrolling its steel wires like a spider its web, playing with capture, thus creating drawings in space. For Charles Serruya, the dream is a reality present in every human being.

• A line that Charles Serruya stretches until it becomes a thread. A rudimentary wire which becomes sophisticated and whose effects multiply according to the chosen subjects: portrait, nude or fresco. A thread of joy that we follow in its tracks in its controlled entanglement.

• Since the mid-1980s, Charles Serruya has been developing graphic work using Chinese shadow and cut-out silhouette. Photography, film, projection and lighting are available according to the achievements and collaborations ranging from fashion show to live performance. Charles Serruya asserts a certain idea of the baroque by avoiding overbidding. He has fun and does it with minimal means but without minimalism. A poetry devoid of sentimentality emerges from his works, as if a character escaped from a vase in ancient Greece would recite verses by Prévert.

• A journey that transcends references without restraint takes him on the path of nomadism. A portrait painter in his spare time, he improvises a traveling portrait cabinet. The subject is thus staged in situ surrounded by his real or imagined attributes. No official portrait or order here, the fantasy of the personalities is sketched in a light line.

• Portraits and sculptures can also be made in personalization and on demand. His studio is located in Saint Tropez, France. Charles Serruya can realize personalized portrait by twisting and shaping wire or steel giving a timeless , sketched tone to own expression on demand. He can also capture motion from wireframe portrait of a person by playing with his camera lens and capture the moment in what he calls "a light box".

• In the latest exhibition organized by Art Thema Gallery at Cabane Bambou, in the Gulf of Saint-Tropez, Charles Serruya stages his aerial sculptures in a setting combining reverie and dolce vita. The curves of the beach interact with the curves of his suspended "steel drawings" and create a poetic and sensual alchemy.

VIEW EXHIBITION IN THE GULF OF SAINT-TROPEZ

August-September 2022

Solo exhibition at Cabane Bamboo, Ramatuelle, France

July-August 2021

Solo exhibition at Cabane Bamboo, Ramatuelle, France

September 2015
Exhibition “Group show” at Galerie in Paris, France

August 2014
Shooting of Selena’s Dream, a 26 minutes fiction movie, starring Olga Vee, at Farfadais studio, Aubervillier France.

November 2013

Creation of a jewelry collection and accessories in collaboration with David Daim, for fashion designer Statkevicius Juozas. in Vilnius, Lithuania

June - July 2013
Personal exhibition in Paris France
Editing: Palace Coste N°49, L’Officiel N°979 Photography, conversation of Pierre Bergé with Jean Cocteau, série of photography for Prada.

December 2013
Reflections in a Golden Eye. Group show at the Galerie Vezelay art, in collaboration with jeweler David Daim.

July 2012

Heart to Heart. Photography exhibition and steel wire installations at Fifi Chachnil’s , London

August 2012
Fifi Chachnil’s fashion show film with the participation of the Crazy Horse girls, Capri, Italy

Summer 2011
Sculpture exhibition at Pavillon de Galon Gardens , Cucuron, Luberon, France

May 2010
Short movie Alice Versus the Clock Cannes Festival independent cinema

October 2009

Multimedia exhibition at Studio Caraco exhibition, directed by Claudine Lachaud. Paris

May 2008
Rencontre Celeste, a 33 minutes documentary, covering la Kumba Mela, the greatest religious pilgrimage in Hallah- Habad, India.

2006-2005
Series of 20 short videos, Marlon & Marlene for the travelling festival organized by Diane Pernet, Austria, Canada, France, Los Angeles

April 2004
Stage direction for the Paris Secret show, with singer Marie France. Choreography Philippe Découfflé. Printemps de Bourges, France

1995-2003

Stage design and lighting for Kentina, a burlesque travelling cabaret, Paris

1997
Stage design and shadow work for designer Adeline Andre’s fashion show, New York

1995

Solo exhibition of Women’s hats portraits, created by Marie Mercier, at Serge Aboukrat Gallery, Paris

The work was acquired by La Maison Européenne de la Photographie & Bank NSM, for their private collections.

1994
Thirteen Musical clips for the launching of cable TV network, Série Club. Paris

1993

Screenwriting & direction of Toc Toc, Le Vampire and Le Privé, 3 short films in 35 mm, (Shad’o production). Broadcasted by Canal + France, Poland and Sweden, by TV5 & TV Suisse Romande, nominated at the Poitiers Futuroscope, distributed by Gaumont

1991-2000
Part-time art director for City models Agency, Paris, France. 1989

Shooting of Breaker’s Insurance Company, Charles’ first short, presented at the Prisunic Gallery, New-York and Club 13 Paris

Collaborated to numerous art shows as A.D at the Prisunic Gallery, owned by Paul Steinitz New York

1987-1985

Illustration of Amour Décomposé, a poetry book by Déa Sturtevant and show creation drawn from the book at Barbara Brathen Gallery & Prisunic Gallery, New York

1983-1989
Windows dresser for Ylang Ylang Jewelry, New York City & Los Angeles

1983

Monumental fresco (66 meters long) created for a performance launched at Gallery in Paris, France and Danceteria, New York

Watercolor portrait exhibition, New York

1980-1983
Sound design in collaboration with poet Déa Sturtevant, designer Éric Smith and film maker Luc Bouery,

Collaboration as interior decorator with Espace Pierre Cardin, Fondation Charles Jourdan, Centre George Pompidou, Bibliothèque Nationale and Deuxième Bureau, headed by Sylvie Grumbach, Paris

1970 –1980

Illustration work for French and US magazines.

Lighting, laser beams, paintings, decors in trendy night clubs

1968 - 1970

Illustration at PINK Studio, Paris, directed by Jacques Massacrier

Billboards, book covers, illustrations for Art-Director Magazine, Playboy, Lui, Vogue, Marie-Claire, Elle, Dépêche Mode...