Arman (artist)

Arman studied in 1949 in Nice, philosophy, mathematics and decorative art. In 1947 he met with Yves Klein . Under the influence of the latter, he is fond of Buddhism , astrology and the teachings of the Rosicrucians . In 1949-1951 he studied archeology and oriental cultures in Paris . At the same time, begins to paint, paints in a surrealistic manner.

In 1953, after the end of military service in Indochina , he returned to Nice, got married and continued to paint, while leaning more and more toward abstractionism . At this time, he was heavily influenced by the work of Serge Polyakov , Jackson Pollock and Kurt Schwitters . In 1956 , the first exhibition of Arman's works took place in Paris. In 1957-1958, the artist traveled to Turkey, Afghanistan and Iran.

Since 1959, Arman leaves painting classes for almost 30 years and devotes himself to creative innovation. So, he experiments with prints of painted objects on canvas or paper, creates art objects from piles of identical objects, for example jugs (the so-called accumulations ).

Arman became famous on October 23, 1960 as a result of the scandal that accompanied the exhibition of his works in the Paris gallery Iris Claire - the artist ordered the gallery to be covered with weeds to the very top. On October 27 of the same year, he along with Yves Klein, Pierre Pestany, Daniel Sperry , Raymond Hines , Francois Dufren , Jean Tangly and others participated in the organization of the art movement "new realists" ( Les Nouveaux Realistes ). In the same period, Arman met in Paris with American representatives of pop art Jasper Jones , Robert Rauschenberg and Larry Rivers , and through Yves Klein establishes contact with the Düsseldorf art group ZERO .

By 1961, his first “color” ( colères ) belong - artistic actions in which objects were broken. In 1963, Arman expanded the concept of "color", starting to cut objects, as well as blow them with dynamite and then put the remains on display. At this time, he met Marcel Duchamp . In 1967, the master took part in the World Exhibition in Montreal , creating accumulations of car parts. By 1970, his experiments were carried out with objects poured into concrete and accumulations.

In 1971, Arman creates objects from polyester and plexiglass , in 1975 he visits Egypt, in 1978 he installs large-format sculptures in Dijon and Dearborn (Michigan, USA). In 1979, he makes trips to China and the USSR.

By 1985, a bust of Maurice Ravel by Arman, installed in the Paris Theater of Comic Opera, and in 1987, a 12-meter double spiral from parts of the piano, guitars and banjo in Memphis (USA), dedicated to blues, belong .

In 1988, Arman returned to painting and created 13 paintings - illustrations for the poetry of Arthur Rimbaud (located in the Paris center of Georges Pompidou ). In his work of this time abstract expressionism and "new realism" are combined. In 1991, a series of portraits of great composers was created - from Bach to Bartok , made of musical instruments that are most characteristic of each composer.

In the late 1980s, in Beijing, during a banquet of Western cultural figures and Chinese dignitaries, he publicly smashed a violin against a wall in order to assemble a panel from its fragments intended for sale at an auction dedicated to the restoration of the Great Wall of China , for that was booed, so the French delegation had to leave the hall. The next day, at an auction broadcast on television in Paris, London and New York, his works were ignored by Chinese buyers, and he had to buy them himself in order not to lose his prestige ^[5] .

Arman was also a collector, he collected various objects, artifacts and works of art, including watches, radios, cars, European pistols, African carved sculpture and Japanese armor.

• Kerstin Stremmel "Realismus", Köln 2004.

• Official site of the artist
• About Arman in Yandex. Dictionaries (unavailable link from 06/14/2016 [1161 days])
• Works and information about the artist on ArtNet
• Artfacts