A.C.M.

b. 1951 · Hargicourt, France

He guts old typewriters, alarm clocks and radios, lets acid and rust chew the parts, then rebuilds them as ruined cathedrals the size of a shoebox.

The life

Born in 1951 in Hargicourt in northern France, he was a shy child who trained as a house painter, tried art school in Tourcoing, then walked away and destroyed everything he had made. In 1974 he met Corinne, who became his companion and the vital support behind his work, and he has signed himself with initials ever since. Working quietly for decades, he was taken up by the art brut world, and his constructions entered the abcd collection in Paris and the LaM museum at Villeneuve d’Ascq.

The work

Miniature architecture assembled from salvaged typewriter parts, electronic circuitry, cables and plaster, which he cleans, corrodes with acid, lets rust and glues into towers, shops and inhabited labyrinths. The surfaces have a scratched, dense look, eaten away by time, like relics of a city nobody remembers. His work is held by the abcd collection in Paris, the LaM in Villeneuve d’Ascq and the Museum of Everything in London.

Why we love them

Most people see dead office equipment. He sees the ruins of a civilisation nobody has visited yet.

Go deeper

• A.C.M. at the Outsider Art Fair
• Where to see outsider art, our full list of museums and collections.
• The glossary, if any of the terms here are new.

Kindred spirits

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