His childhood and diverse professional experiences (elevator attendant, puppeteer, window dresser) have given François Monchâtre an ironic view of the world. From 1963 to 1975, he began showing his work and rubbed shoulders with Tinguely, Arman, Klein, César and Gaston Chaissac. He created his first “Automaboules” in painted metal and his UPOs (unidentified painted objects). In 1970 he began to design a series of dream machines using wood, lead and mirrors. These unique, poetic systems reflect the mechanisms that he had admired since childhood. In 1975 Monchâtre joined the Atelier Jacob, directed by Alain Bourbonnais, an associate of Dubuffet, who was gathering works of “outsiders”. He was exhibited at the Halle Saint-Pierre in Paris in 2001 and the Outsider Art Fair in New York in 2003.