André Robillard, la fleur au fusil

This is a real weaponry: rifles - be it Chinese, with a Russian atomic head, combat from Germany, quick American -, as well as B-52 bombers, tanks and even sputniks! It was not found in a rogue country but rather in the secret garden of an artist, André Robillard. This champion of art brut, noticed by Jean Dubuffet, is now 85 years old. He created his first rifles in 1964. But these were "non-offensive" rifles, full of colours and Scotch. He had never wished to go too far away from the psychiatric hospital where he had once been interned (he was cook and then dish washer). Today he is famous and appears in the Collection de l’art brut in Lausanne. In this book made up of interviews which he organised in themed chapters, from Animals to Old age, including the Cosmos, Martians and Television, he unveils his vision of the world, his origins (his youth at La Mal Tournée, his father who was a game keeper and his mother who was the gate keeper), his influences (Picasso, Yvette Horner, the stars). One could see some Prévert in him, and would not be wrong.

• André Robillard, la fleur au fusil, interviews with Françoise Monnin, la Bibliothèque des arts, 2016, 176 p., €19.