Serge Vollin

Serge Vollin (born Cherif Benamor on December 20, 1946 in Algeria) is a French painter and author.
==Life==
Vollin was born to Berber parents in Ghassira in the Atlas Mountains in Algeria. At the age of 17 he went to France, lived, studied and worked in Grenoble before deciding to move to Germany in 1973. 
His childhood and youth were marked by traumatic experiences of the Algerian War (1954-1962). A shocking experience at the age of 8 triggered nightmares, which he began to draw while herding goats. Until soldiers became aware of his passion and gave him notebooks and pens (later a barrel of ink and a quill), he scratched his dreams into rocks with flint stones and used slates and chalk. 
As a teenager and young man in France he met people who supported him and with whom he developed lifelong friendships. In France and Germany he worked in various jobs - always with the real goal of financing his life as an artist. The grueling conflict between existence, art and traumatic childhood experiences repeatedly took its toll and led to breakdowns that characterize the phases of his painting. 
In 2005 he met Fatima Besnaci-Lancou, a French writer known for her Harkis portraits. Harkis were Algerian auxiliary troops who fought for France in the Algerian War (1954-1962). A joint project was created in which Serge Vollin visualized Fatima's Harkis portraits. On February 7, 2024, texts and images were presented at the Assemblée Nationale in Paris and the story of the Harkis with 62 works by Serge Vollin was made accessible to the general public at the Dôme des Invalides.
Today Serge Vollin lives in Munich, is married and has a son.
==Work==
Vollin's works have been exhibited in 1998 at the Luise Ross Gallery in New York City, in 2006 at the Berlin Art Brut Biennale and most recently in 2024 as part of a memorial program of the French government in Paris. 
His oeuvre, which now comprises around 1,700 works, does not fit into any of the classic categories and includes modern art, art brut, nudes and therapy art in oil and acrylic. Some works serve as templates for lead glass, copperplate engraving and mosaic works, are taken up by a fashion designer or are the starting point for extensive tapestry weaving works (project in Voiron, France). 
He says of himself that he has retained a child's soul for his art. He paints directly and impulsively, works without sketches or studies. Triggers are impressions from encounters, experiences and his dreams throughout his life. Works are created exclusively at the table or, in the case of larger formats, on the floor. Due to the intensity of the engagement and the detailing, he usually needs more than half a year for the latter.
==Exhibitions==
===Solo exhibitions===
* 1985: Klinge Pharma GmbH, Munich, Germany
* 1986: Deutsche Bank, Marienplatz, Munich, Germany
* 1989: Siemens AG, Munich-Neuperlach, Germany
* 1989: MBB, Ottobrunn, Germany
* 1990: TÜV Oberbayern, Munich-Neuperlach, Germany
* 1990: BBV, Munich-Neuperlach, Germany
* 1992: IHK, Würzburg, Germany
* 1994: Bayer. Verwaltungsgericht, Munich, Germany
* 2001: Villa des Arts, Voreppe, France
* 2001: Luise Ross Gallery, New York, USA
* 2002: CBG Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany
* 2004: L’ancien Musée de peinture, Grenoble, France
* 2006: 13 Chibanis – Harkis, Perpignan, France
* 2006: Colloque pour une histoire critique et citoyenne à L’École Normale Supérieure-Lettres et Sciences Humaines de Lyon, France
* 2007: Les 13 Chibanis Harkis, Roubaix, France
* 2008: Les 13 Chibanis Harkis, Paris, France
* 2011: Galerie Abrupt Grenoble, France
* 2015: Rathausgalerie Ebersberg, Germany
* 2015: SeelenArt Galerie Munich, Germany
* 2016: Galerie Hebert, Grenoble, France
* 2024: Assemblée Nationale, and Dôme des Invalides, Paris, France
===Group exhibitions===
* 1991: Mairie de Morainvilliers, Paris, France
* 1995: BBV, Munich-Neuperlach, Germany
* 1996: City Hall of Germering (vincinity of Munich Germany)
* 1996: Art Exhibition – International Congress on Phytomedicine, Munich, Germany
* 1998: Outsider Art Fair at the Puck Building on Lafayette, New York, USA
* 1998: Luise Ross Gallery, New York, USA
* 1998: Halle Saint Pierre, Paris, France
* 1999: Outsider Art Fair at the Puck Building on Lafayette, New York, USA
* 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003: Luise Ross Gallery, New York, USA
* 2000, 2001, 2003: Outsider Art Fair at the Puck Building on Lafayette, New York, USA
* 2001: Art project „ freedom • freiheit • liberté “ Galery in the Üblacker-Häusl, Munich, Germany
* 2002: Le Pluriel des Singuliers III,
* 2002: Galerie d’Art du Conseil Général des Bouches-du-Rhône, Aix-en-Provence, France
* 2005: Maghreb des livres, l’Hôtel de ville, Paris 4ème, France
* 2005: Biennale « Meine Welt » Nr. 5, Wichernheim e.V. Frankfurt/Oder, Germany
* 2005: Folk Arts Centre Kaustinen, Finnland (Presentation DVD)
* 2005: 8èmes Rencontres autour de l’Art Singulier au Musée International d’Art Naïf Anatole Jakovsky, Nice, France
* 2005: L’Association CONFLUENCES, Blagnac, France
* 2006: APA (L’Association pour l’autobiographie et le patrimoine autobiographique) au centre International de Séjour de Lyon, France
* 2007: ARTénim, Alpexpo-Grenoble, France
* 2007: „Des Menschen Maaß“, Outsider Art atelier hpca, Kunsthalle Villa Kobe in Halle/Saale, Germany
* 2007: 8th Triennial of Self-Taught Art “Insita”, Slovenska Narodna Galéria, Bratislava, Slovakia
* 2007: INDEX Exhibition, Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre, VAE
* 2007: Art Gallery, Montreux, Espace Bétemps Galerie d’art, France
* 2008: «die andere Seite», Gasteig, Munich, Germany
* 2008: Salon d’Automne de peinture de La Grande Motte, Prix Athena D’Or
* 2009: BIZ’ART – BIZ’ART; Le Vaudioux, France
* 2009: American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore, USA (06-Sep-2009 – 06-Sep-2010)
* 2010: BIZ’ART – BIZ’ART; Le Vaudioux, France
* 2010: Ausstellung unter Wasser im Aquadome, Bad Wiessee, Germany
* 2010: «die andere Seite», Gasteig, Munich, Germany
* 2011: „Here is Afrika!“, K.H. Renlunds Museum, Kokkola, Finnland (12-Mai-2011 - 04-Sep-2011)
* 2011: Kajaani Art Museum, Finnland (18-Sep-2011 - 27-Nov-2011)
* 2011: District Oberbayern, Germany - art award
* 2012, 2013, 2014: BIZ’ART – BIZ’ART; Le Vaudioux, France
* 2014: Abbaye Auberive, France
* 2015: Land Registry, Ebersberg, Germany
* 2016: Culture Affairs Department of the city of Munich, «I art my office»
* 2022: District Oberbayern, Germany - art award
==Publications==
* Serge Vollin, Alain-Victorin L'Evêque: Filles des Aurès | La guerre d'Algérie dans les yeux d'un enfant 2024, ISBN 978-2-336-40471-4
* Serge Vollin: Mes Aures | My Aures 2004 Objet Trouve, Paris, ISBN 2-84935-001-X
* Serve Vollin: 60 Poemes – Je ne suis pas poete – 60 poems and illustrations (color, privately owned)
==Weblinks==
* Serge Vollin on Instagram
* Treize Chibanis Harkis
==Literature==
* 2012: RAW EROTICA Sex, Lust and Desire in Outsider Art, ISBN (paperback): 978-0-9543393-5-7, ISBN (hardcover): 978-0-9543393-6-4 
* 2013: Catalogue of the art auction of the Rotary Club Munich International, 15-Nov-2013
* 2014: Genie sauvant – genie brut: mycelium, ISBN 978-2-918160-11-3 Catalogue d’exposition au Centre d’art contemporain de l’Abbaye d’Auberive du 8 juin au 28 septembre 2014
* 2019: Catalogue of the art auction of the Rotary Club Munich International, 22-Nov-2019
* 2020: MEMORIAL DU CAMP DE RIVESALTES - TREIZE CHIBANIS HARKIS, Oevres de Vollin Textes de Fatima Besnaci-Lancou, ISBN 979-10-91148-62-7
Category:1946 births
Category:French painters
Category:French people
Category:Author