Arman
Trio à Cordes.
1987

About the Item

Unique artwork This work is recorded in the Arman Studio Archives New York under number: APA# 1001.87.013. The painting was executed by Arman at a happening at Malmö Konserthus for the exhibition, Trio à Cordes 1987. Free shipment worldwide. Arman explores reality. He strives to transform and sublimate artefacts into works of art. Everyday objects become poetry for the eye. Forks, women’s shoes, credit cards, bottle caps and revolvers. Cast, welded together or enclosed in plexiglass “vitrines”, these things are metamorphosed into a form of art that he calls “accumulations”. Starting in the late 1950s, Arman immersed himself whole-heartedly in these inventories of reality until he passed away in 2005. He collected and amalgamated piles of junk, pens, paint tubes, rubber stamps and much else. These accumulations became his hallmark, just as much as the sliced, burnt and sawn objects of his “tantrums”, ranging from violins and Roman gods to veteran motorbikes and telephones. Arman’s sculptures lent new dimensions to objects that already were perfect as they were. Armand Pierre Fernandez was born in Nice in November 1928. He developed his passion for artefacts in his father’s antique shop. At the age of 18, he studied at the Nice Academy of Art, but left three years later in protest against the conservative leadership. Now he set out on his own path, began to paint in earnest and, under the influence of Pollock, Schwitters and Duchamp, evolved his own idiosyncratic language of form and ideas. Initially, in the late 1950s, he painted abstract motifs. Then he turned his talents to sculpture, which in turn led to his breakthrough. After a catalogue entry at the legendary Galerie Iris Clert accidentally omitted the final ‘d’ from the artist’s name, he resolved that from that time on, he would sign his works simply ‘Arman’. When Yves Klein met Arman at a judo course in the autumn of 1949, there immediately arose a close affinity between the two men, who subsequently divided the world between them. Yves assumed responsibility for the spiritual world, Arman for the material. In 1960 they joined with César, Pierre Restany, Niki de Saint Phalle, Jean Tinguely and Rotella, among others, to form the Nouveaux Réalistes. This was also the year when Arman put together his much noticed show titled Plein (“Full up”), a neo•realist exhibition at Galerie Iris Clert. The installation consisted of a monumental heap of junk – trash piled from floor to ceiling in a manner reminiscent of Raymond Hains’ collage Slum Sculptures. Arman wrote, “The bow on the strings releases an explosion of sounds,” in the book Trio à cordes published by GKM Siwert Bergström nearly twenty years ago. The words are his own. The book is a tender homage to music and expresses the artist’s predilection for the tones of violin, cello and double bass. Lyrically orchestrated poems are conflated with ingenious detail images: multi-coloured violins and a delicately painted cello are but two of the motifs drawn against the straight lines of the score. The first steps towards collaboration with GKM Siwert Bergström came with an exhibition in Malmö, when Arman staged a “happening” in Malmö Concert Hall. This was followed by several exhibitions in Malmö, at the Stockholm Art Fair, at FIAC in Paris and at the Glyptoteket in Copenhagen. Contacts with GKM subsequently led to an exhibition of Arman’s works at the Lund Konsthall gallery with the support of Marianne Nanne-Bråhammar. This also included a happening. Arman died in October 2005 at the age of 76. For the last 30 years of his life he maintained two homes and studios, in New York and in Vence, in the south of France. His works featured in a total of almost 500 separate exhibitions during his lifetime. In addition to being well represented in museums around the world, he also created several works of art for public spaces, ranging from welded shopping carts, to clocks, double basses and cars stacked on top of each other. Among his best known are Hope for Peace in Beirut, À la République in the Elysée Palace in Paris, L’heure de tous and Consigne de vie outside Saint Lazare railway station in Paris. There is something animated in Arman’s work – a provocation, a challenge, an inner power in the things in which his art resides – that links the past to our own age, and casts the soul and the body as one.

Creator:
Arman (1928 - 2005, French)
Creation Year:
1987
Dimensions:
Height: 78.75 in (200 cm)Width: 53.94 in (137 cm)Depth: 2.37 in (6 cm)
Medium:
Canvas,Mixed Media,Acrylic
Movement & Style:
Contemporary
Period:
2000-2009
Condition:
Gallery Location:
Malmo, SE
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU3284551721
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Arman

Arman was born in Nice, France, in 1928, and showed a talent for painting and drawing as a child. He studied at the the Ecole Nationale des Art Décoratifs in Nice followed by studies at the École du Louvre in Paris. In his early years he focused on abstract paintings. Then, in 1957, he became interested in common objects as works of art. He first did what came to be called his "allures d"objet" (object impressions), where he would dip an object into paint and press it on canvas thus leaving the object's shadow or impression. Then he decided the object itself was worth paying attention to and started to treat them in his own way. His intention was to remove the material purpose of an object so that its only remaining function was to "feed the mind" as a work of art. What better way to achieve that result than by breaking, slicing or even burning objects such as violins, telephones, typewriters or even whole cars? He also made objects useless by accumulating them, such as 2,000 wristwatches in a Plexiglass box that all kept different time. Once emotionally detached from the circumstances associated with a broken object, the viewer could grow to appreciate its abstract beauty; so, in a sense, Arman was literally teaching that things one never thought could be regarded as attractive could indeed turn out to be so. Through this achievement, Arman gained worldwide recognition and is regarded as one of the most prolific and inventive creators of the late 20th century. His work can be found in the collections of numerous museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Tate Gallery in London and the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Arman’s work has also been exhibited in galleries, museums and public spaces worldwide including the Musée D’Art Contemporain in Tehran, Iran; the Museum of Art in Tel Aviv, Israel; the Musée Des Arts Decoratifs and Opéra De Paris in France; the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art in California; and the Museum of Arts and Design and the Guggenheim in New York He died in 2005 in New York.