Arman - Vicky David Gallery

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6 ROOM 5: ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE FUTURE Not content with the transfiguration of the found object by massing or decomposition, Arman now embeds it in polyester resin, concrete or paint, suggesting an archaeological find imprisoned in the lava of Pompeii. This brings out explicitly the meditation on time that is a frequent feature of Arman’s work. The section closes with The Day After (1985): an exceptional environment of pieces in cast bronze. � Fauteuil d’Ulysse, 1966 ROOM 6: ARMAN AND RENAULT: ART AND INDUSTRY Thanks to an understanding with Claude-Louis Renard, from 1967 to 1969, Arman would produce large accumulations, some of them sculptures, some of them monochromatic panels, with parts directly from the production line. ROOM 7: I AM A BORN-AGAIN PAINTER “I am a born again painter”: this was Arman’s declaration of a recovered or never-abandoned loyalty to painting, as the painter’s materials –tubes, brushes, paint– became an integral part of the composition. Paint is an object. This last section thus illustrates the permanent reinvention of painting in Arman’s work. � La vie dans la ville pour l'œil, 1965
7 3. BIOGRAPHICAL HIGHLIGHTS Armand Pierre Fernandez is born in Nice on 17 November 1928. His father Antonio Francesco Fernandez, Spanish by origin, is the owner of a furniture shop. The family lives in the Rue Maréchal Joffre in Nice, and Armand spends his childhood in the composite universe of the second-hand shop, from whence would come his taste for collecting. His father, an amateur painter, teaches him the techniques of oil painting and takes him to the universal exhibitions of the day: the young boy is fascinated by the machines cut down the middle to reveal their inner workings. He quickly reveals himself to be artistically gifted and persuades his parents to allow him to study at the École Nationale des Arts Décoratifs in Nice. Although a brilliant student, he leaves the school in 1949, exasperated by its conservatism. 1947-1950 Armand meets Yves Klein and Claude Pascal at the judo school run by the Nice police. Under Klein’s influence, the three interest themselves in esoteric teachings and find themselves fascinated by the pure colours and violent technique of Vincent Van Gogh. Out of admiration for the latter, Yves and Armand decide to use only their first names in signing their work. In 1948, Armand discovers the leading figures in Dada and Surrealism, who will influence his work as a painter. In 1949, he moves to Paris to enrol at the École du Louvre. His friendship with Klein and Pascal does not suffer: together they form the Triangle group. 1951-1959 Armand is given an entrée into Parisian artistic circles by Yves Klein and his mother Marie Raymond, who introduces him to Anna Staritsky, who points him towards non-figurative painting. He discovers the work of Hendrik Nicolaas Werkman, a Dutch typographer (d. 1945) who had used mechanical repetition in word-based typographical compositions. In Paris he is impressed by the paintings of Jackson Pollock’s that he sees at Studio Facchetti, which will influence both the spirit and the composition of his own work. On 17 February 1953, he marries Éliane Radigue; he works as a salesman in his father’s shop. His painting becomes abstract, showing the influence of Poliakoff and Nicolas de Staël. In Paris in spring 1954 he discovers Kurt Schwitters, being strongly influenced by his rubbish and fragments of paper, whose abstract play of forms and colours breaks with the post-Cubist order. Back in Nice, he takes the rubber stamps routinely used in his father’s business and uses them in his own work as an artist, more interested in the formal properties of the stamp than its content. Arman shows his Cachets in Paris in 1956 and the press speaks of Neo-Dada influence, highlighting their formal character. On the occasion of the artist’s first one-person show (Galerie La Roue, Paris, June 1957), Pierre Restany, whom Arman is beginning to associate with on a regular basis, hails the development of this “viscerally painterly” young man. In 1957 a printer’s error sees his name on a poster curtailed to “Arman,” and he decides to exploit this accident and abandon the final “d” in his forename – and his artistic signature. Yves Klein’s exhibition “Le Vide” opens at Iris Clert’s on 28 April1958. In May, the same gallery shows recent painting by Arman under the title “Les Olympiens.” Through his wife, Arman meets those involved in Groupe de Recherches Musicales (GRM) run by musician and electrical engineer Pierre Schaeffer, who has just invented ways of slowing down or stretching out sound, calling the result “Allures d’objets en musique” (the gait of objects in music). Arman borrows the name from him, and embarks on his Allures d’objets (Gait of Objects works), which will lead on to the first Colères (Rages) and Accumulations. In 1959, hen makes his first Poubelles (Garbage Cans) and meets Martial Raysse. 1960-1962 On 16 April 1959, the Galleria Apollinaire in Milan opens an exhibition of work by Yves Klein, Jacques Villeglé, Jean Tinguely, Raymond Hains and François Dufrêne, together with Allures-Colères by Arman. In his introduction to the catalogue, Restany makes use of the phrase “New Realists” for the first time. This essay represents the first manifesto of the future movement, declaring the emergence of a new way of looking at urban, industrial society, its products and its refuse. In June 1959, Alfred Schmela in Dusseldorf presents Arman’s “Poubelles et Accumulations” which gains a Europe-wide response. For the occasion, Arman writes for the Zero group the text “Réalisme des accumulations,” in which he explains that the object has a value in itself, and that accumulation allows it to be recontextualised with itself. In October 1960, Iris Clert presents “Le Plein,” or “Full Up,” Arman’s response to Klein’s “Vide.” The invitation to the opening takes the form of a sardine tin filled with rubbish, containing a short text by Pierre Restany, who claims that this event brings to New Realism “its properly architectonic dimension.” Arman begins the series of Portraits-robots with portraits of Yves Klein and Iris Clert, gathering some of their personal
Page 1 and 2: COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT PRESS PAC
Page 3 and 4: 21 July 2010 Direction de la commun
Page 5: � 5 2. PLAN & INTRODUCTION TO THE
Page 9 and 10: 9 1971-1978 On 25 January 1971 Arma
Page 11 and 12: 11 4. PUBLICATIONS EXHIBITION CATAL
Page 13 and 14: 13 cocktail of materials and kitsch
Page 15 and 16: 15 Allure, to go beyond the simple
Page 17 and 18: 17 NOTES 1 Arman, Mémoires accumul
Page 19 and 20: 19 GALERIE 2, LEVEL 6 GUIDED TOURS
Page 21 and 22: 21 La Grande Bouffe, 1973 Accumulat
Page 23 and 24: 23 Colère de télévision, 1976 Ra
Page 25 and 26: 25 FILMS PRESENTED WITHIN THE EXHIB
Page 27 and 28: 7. PARTNER INA PARTNERS THE «ARMAN
Page 29 and 30: 29 Chopin’s Waterloo, 1962 © ADA
Page 31: 31 PRACTICALITIES AT THE SAME TIME

Arman - Vicky David Gallery

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