Jean-Paul Réti, born in 1946 in Brașov, Romania, spent part of his school years in Budapest, Hungary, before establishing in Paris, France, in the late 1960s.

There, he became a student at Beaux-Arts de Paris, under the supervision of noted French sculptor César.

In the 1970s, he developed commissioned sculpture work for artists such as Fernando Botero, Jean-Michel Folon, Jean Dubuffet and Pierre Klossowski.

[1][2] In 1985, he established his workshop permanently in Les Frigos, a squatting art space in Paris, France.

[3] Inspired by urban life, by radical anarchist political views, and also by botanic phenomena (e.g. roots) and environmental dynamics, the art of Jean-Paul Réti has been often compared to that of the Nouveaux Réalistes, especially through its connections to the work of César Baldaccini.