* 18 July 1935 in Naples. Lives and works in Nice
Swiss-French artist
Known for: Painting and text-based images with hand-written sentences such as "La Suisse n'existe pas"; Le Magasin (Installation, 1958-1972)
Art historical context: Fluxus, New Realism, Figuration Libre, (Neo) Dada, Total Art, Zero Group, Anti-Art, Lettrism
Throughout his career Ben Vautier was concerned with nothing and its artistical depiction. Already his first solo exhibition in 1960 at the Laboratoire 32 in Nice makes reference to nothing: Ben expose tout et rien
Exhibited works
Je signe rien faire (I do sign nothing), 1961. BF | A | From 1960 to 1963, Ben Vautier signed everything that he encountered – his own body, other people as "living sculptures", works by other artists, walls on which he had urinated, the horizon, the city of Nice, "life" in total – and doing nothing, as well. (Documentation)
A year later, he developed a performance (a Fluxus event) that consisted only of the following instructions: "performers do nothing" (Nothing, 1962). | ||
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Das erste tragbare Loch. Le premier trou portativ. The first portable hole, 1960. GF | B |
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Ben n'expose pas (Ben does not exhibit), 1966. BF | A | Poster of the exhibition in the gallery "J" in Paris, with the announcement that Ben will not exhibit – from July 18 to September 18, 1966 in the gallery "J" in Paris. | ||
Personne (= Individual, Person; Nobody, No one; Anybody), 1966. BF | A |
Premiered in Nice. An avant-garde theater piece by Ben Vautier, presented by Fluxus and Art Total, which no visitors were allowed to see. The actors peformed in front of empty rows. It was not until the fall of the curtain that the actors joined the audience in the waiting hall. | ||
Rien n'existe pas (Nothing Does Not Exist), 1991. BF | A |
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Absence d' Art = Art (Absence of art = Art), 1964. GF | B | Print on letterpress paper, 22.5 x 31.2 cm. | ||
Nothing to say. 2012 BF | A | Painting, acrylic on canvas, 40 × 60 cm. | ||
Links Ben-vautier.com | Galerie Laurent Strouk | Galerie Daniel Templon | Galerie Daniel Varenne | Further informations 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10
Credits All reproductions © 2014, ProLitteris, Zurich |