Arman

Selected Works

Arman
L'ennemi intérieur
Bronze patiné
210 cm de hauteur
signé et numéroté à 4 exemplaires + 1 EA

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Arman
Violoncillitch
Bronze patiné
210 cm de hauteur
Signé et numéroté d'une édition à 4 exemplaires + 1EA

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Arman
Vénus aux coulées de peinture, vers 1990
Bronze soudé, patiné et polychromé à la laque
162 x 55 x 55 cm
Signé et numéroté d'une édition à 4 exemplaires
Fondeur Bocquel

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Some of the works depicted are no longer available.

Biography

By transforming everyday objects into bronze, Arman creates sculptures in the tradition of New Realism, which advocates a "new way of perceiving reality" and a "poetic recycling of urban, industrial and advertising reality". As co-founder and emblematic figure of the movement, he contributes to its promotion through accumulations of objects, to which he gives a monumental scale, with works of almost 5 meters in height.

Armand Pierre Fernandez (1928-2005), was a brilliant painter from the age of 10, filled with curiosity for the objects in his father's antique shop. At 19, he met Yves Klein and Claude Pascal, who would become his two closest friends. It was the beginning of a youth exalted by an attraction to philosophies and oriental arts, which led him to the École du Louvre in Paris in 1949. Not wanting to pursue a career as an auctioneer, he left Paris for Madrid where he taught Judo. In 1951, he returned to Nice, his attraction to painting became clearer, under the influence of the Russian painter Serge Poliakoff and Nicolas de Staël. He decided, following Van Gogh's example, to sign his first name.

Also influenced by the works of Kurt Schwitters and Jackson Pollock, he tried his hand at stamp work and exhibited the first "cachets" in Paris in 1956. During an exhibition at Iris Clert, "Armand" lost his "D" in the invitation and authenticated the printing error by transforming his signature. While he accumulated works and exhibitions, Arman was now fully engaged in the intellectual and artistic movement of the 60s.

His encounters led him to frequent the New York artistic community, in contact with Marcel Duchamp. This was the beginning of a life continually shared between France and the United States.

In 1962, Arman's career took a new direction with the beginning of the accumulation of objects and by being one of the founding members of a collective of French and American artists, the New Realists. Personal retrospectives were already dedicated to him in Amsterdam, Brussels and Minneapolis. At this time, he used new materials, such as plexiglass and polyester. A few years later, Arman began collaborating with industry. He obtained increasing recognition for his work in France and abroad, and he then took American nationality. From 1980, the range of works and techniques expanded and it was mainly monumental achievements that stood out. At the end of the 1990s, the work became more radical and a succession of gestures about the object. He held more than 500 solo exhibitions, including 75 in museums.

Public Collections

Artsonje Museum, Gyeongju Bomun; Berardo Museum, Lisbonne; Carré d'art - musée d'Art contemporain de Nîmes; FLUXUS+, Potsdam; Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, Paris; Fondation Pierre Gianadda, Martigny; Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hambourg.