Arman - Vicky David Gallery

10
1998-2005
On 26 January 1998 a major Arman retrospective opens at the Jeu de Paume (travelling afterwards to
Germany, Portugal, Israel, Brazil, Spain and China). Curator Daniel Abadie has selected some hundred
works from 1959 to 1997: Accumulations, Rages, Combustions and Garbage Cans. This is accompanied
by an extensive catalogue than includes an interview with the artist by Daniel Abadie. Arman starts on
new series: Nec Mergitur is a series of objects immersed in an apocalyptic brew of mud and spilt oil.
These sliced objects in suspension achieve the artist’s goal in making the viewer aware of what is beyond
the painting. In 2000, the Fondation Émile-Hugues in Vence stages the retrospective “Arman, la traversée
des objets,” curated by Tita Reut. The artist returns to easel painting with a series of works, the Serious
Paintings, which combine the recomposition of musical instruments with their “staging” in painting.
Suffering from cancer, Arman dies in New York on 22 October 2005.