BEN VAUTIER

Ben Vautier (b. Naples, 1935)

Ben is perhaps one of the most popular contemporary French artists, and is known for his actions, his paintings and his written works, which comprise both reflections on art and on the means of integrating daily life into artistic expression. Born Benjamin Vautier in Naples in 1935, he spent his early childhood between Turkey, Egypt, and Greece. In 1949, he moved with his parents to Nice, where he still lives and works.
At the age of 16, Ben left his studies and began painting, years before Warhol, the forms of bananas and stains. In 1958, he opened Laboratoire 32, a studio and gallery that housed numerous meetings and exhibitions.
With no formal artistic training, Ben presented his first exhibit, Rien et tout, in 1960. Inspired by Yves Klein, Marcel Duchamp and the "Nouveaux Réalistes", Ben began to develop a personal style reminiscent of Dadaism, tying himself to artistic appropriation. His works were inspired and informed by the “Ready-mades” of Duchamp, as well as by the conclusion that a work of art could be identified solely by the signature of the artist. Bentook to signing everything that fell into his hands, even the work of other artists, thus denouncing the megalomania of art. He continued to do so until 1962, multiplying his provocative artistic gestures and their aesthetic demands. Again in 1962, Ben made his famous declaration that “everything is art” and began a series of eye-opening actions that demonstrated this idea. He spent two weeks living in the front window of Gallery One in London, during the Festival of Misfits. In 1969, he banged his head against a wall until he sustained an injury. In 1971, for "Nez qui coule", Ben allowed his nose to run continuously in public.

In 1972, Ben caused a scandal by exhibiting "Urine", a glass containing a few centiliters of his own urine, at the Grand Palais, the famed institution of art in Paris. The exhibit was part of the 1972 year of contemporary art in France. During the same year, Ben also dismantled his shop and exhibited it as a total work of art: two years later, it was acquired by the National Museum of Modern Art.

Between 1962 and 1970, Ben was one of the precursory members of the "Fluxus" movement, along with Al Hansen and John Cage. "Fluxus" corresponded with his sense of humor and, above all, the destruction of barriers between art and everyday life. "Fluxus" brought Ben closer to the "École Nice" before becoming one of the main tutelary figures. It is at the "École de Nice" that his paintings emerged, always in small formats and representing only what one can read. These pieces hold great importance in Ben’s oeuvre and have arguably made his success a reality. Ben’s humorous texts and thoughts are an invitation to the reader. In this way, his message- a few words that hurl truths about anything and everything- directs itself mainly at the spectator’s point of view and not at the mind. Ben’s writing, white calligraphy against a black background, is infantile and universally legible. However, when displaced in the context of the art and affixed to paintings, walls or objects, the maxims of this (verbal/ literary) amateur help to poetize the life that surrounds us, and assume a different outlook on it.

Pierre de Taillancourt