Village d’art préludien de Chomo

English translation

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History

Roger Chomeaux, known as "Chomo", was born on 28 January 1907 in Berlaimont, a small village in the North of France, into a very modest family. Introduced to spiritism by his aunt and always passionate about drawing, poetry and modelling, he obtained his certificate of studies without great conviction and enrolled at the School of Fine Arts in Valenciennes (academy of sculpture), then at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris where he won several prizes. Married and soon a father, he worked as a carpet decorator when the war broke out. Deported to Poland, he feigned deafness to obtain repatriation on health grounds. On his return to France, he first tried various small trades, then preferred to withdraw, alone, deep into the Forest of Fontainebleau, on land purchased by his wife during the Occupation. It was there that he lived, in the most complete material deprivation, and worked for more than forty years, benefiting, like all hermits, from total freedom. First, forced to obtain materials on site and to explore the undergrowth and public refuse tips, he developed the technique of "burnt wood", then that of melted plastics, learned to work with wire mesh and to use the varieties of sand from the forest. To shelter his increasingly numerous works, he had to construct buildings: with dead trees, stones, wire mesh, staff and bottles, he thus created the "Church of the Poor", the "Sanctuary of Burnt Woods" and the "Refuge", also originally called the "Refrigerated Tug". The first visitors began to appear: this was the birth of the Preludian Art Village. In 1960, at the Jean Camion gallery in Paris, rue des Beaux-Arts, he held his first and only exhibition. A spectacular event, accompanied by music of his composition, which had attracted the attention of André Breton and the last surrealists.