An architect trained at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Jean-Claude Pondevie (born in 1942) designs minimalist architecture, with volumes that are both stripped back yet also highly complex, and that implicitly reveals his solid attachment to history and context. He produced many buildings destined for residential use or office space, including the “Phare des Alizés” in Nantes (2010) as well as cultural establishments such as the FRAC in Carquefou, in the Pays de la Loire region (2000) and the Théâtre d’Ancenis (2001). Jean-Claude Pondevie also worked as a scenographer, notably designing the scenography of the exhibition on the Russian Avant-Garde at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nantes in 1993 and that of “Primitive Passion” in the large chapel of the Palais des Papes in Avignon in 1999.

Since the 1990s, he has also undertaken photographic work parallel to these activities. He is represented by the Galerie Mélanie Rio.