Michel Boutboul: Meet The Artist

In the Parisian suburb of Noisy-le-sec, Michel Boutboul was born in 1951, the eighth of sixteen children, taking his place amidst a tribe of nine brothers and six sisters. Life in the blue collar region was not tilled with luxury, but it had the comforts of home for the young Boutboul and his remaining clan of siblings, some of whom were approaching their exodus from the family nest. As the son of a butcher, Alfred and his wife Louise, a devoted mother and ,homemaker, Boutboul’s artistic talents lay dormant for the first decade of his life– until eventually awakened by his elementary school instructor, Professor Vandalon, a man who cast an everlasting impression on the would-be illusionistic surrealist.

Consumed with his passion for surrealism, Boutboul shockingly discovered one of the greatest artists of the Surrealist Art Movement, Salvadore Dali. Dismayed to uncover works which mirrored his own, Boutboul was crushed that someone had already mastered what he considered to be his personal style. A two year pictorial sabbatical followed, an interval where he would immerse himself into a period of sculpture. Rejuvenated, confident, and strongly represented by a socially connected agent, Boutboul was introduced into dignitary circles, affording him frequent exhibitions around France, eventually winning him such clients as Russian Ministers and French Senators. Forever disenchanted with empty opportunity, Boutboul remained internally unsettled, hence provoking his decision to depart Europe and travel to the United States, igniting a glimmer of light within.