Arman (1928 Nizza – 2005 New York)

Arman, Armand Pierre Fernandez

The French-American object artist  Arman was one and co-founder of the Nouveau Réalisme. His full name was Armand Pierre Fernandez and through a typographical error on an invitation card in 1958 he took the stage name Arman (the “d” of “Armand” was missing).

Arman completed his art studies at the famous Ecole des Arts Décoratifs in Nice and at the renowned Ecole du Louvre in Paris. His artistic motivation was influenced by the role models Vincent Van Gogh, Serge Poliakoff and the Dadaist Kurt Schwitters.

On October 27, 1960, the movement “Les Nouveaux Réalistes” was founded in Yves Klein’s apartment in Paris by the artistic mastermind Pierre Restany. Arman, Yves Klein, Daniel Spoerri, Martial Raysse, Raymond Hains, Jacques de la Villeglé, François Dufrêne and Jean Tinguely were founding members. Arman got to know Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg and Larry Rivers in Paris and thus the American art scene. Arman knew Günther Uecker and his works from the German artist group ZERO from Düsseldorf. Marcel Duchamp belonged to Arman’s circle of acquaintances.

The philosophy and aesthetics of the Dada group, with Yves Klein and Jean Tinguely as Nouveau Rèalisme (New Realism) artists, influenced Arman, as did the contemporaneously emerging pop art of American artists. In his works from the 1960s, he openly criticized the consumer world, the throwaway culture and, above all, mass production.

On October 23, 1960, Arman suddenly made himself known

Arman reacted to the exhibition “Le Vide” by Yves Klein, which showed a white-painted gallery with empty walls, which was only emitted by blue light, by filling a gallery up to the ceiling with rubbish two years later.

In 1961, Arman became known throughout Europe through the gazettes for his artistic colères/“tantrums”:

Arman had smashed violins or double basses in an art action.
Two years later, in 1963, his action concept, his colères, was expanded: Arman cuts up objects (the work series “coupes”) or simply blows them up with dynamite (which has been handed down in the work series “combustions”). : the remaining remains are exhibited as artefacts of the Colères.
The artist Arman began a new series of works in 1964: the “inclusions”.
Armon shows objects sealed in polyester, such as spoons, teapots or hairbrushes, which he calls “accumulations” and which are then “invisible” from the 1970s because he casts them in concrete.
And in 1966, the towers were made from tubes of paint in Plexiglas.
At the 1967 World’s Fair in Montréal, Arman exhibited his accumulations of car parts. Arman caused a sensation in 1982 with his surreal, towering sculpture Long-Term Parking – in which the artist stacked original cars, a total of 60 pieces on top of each other, which, it felt, seemed like several pillows, i.e. cast very softly in cement permanently “park”.

In 1991, the Arman created, among other things, portraits of famous artists in music history, including famous composers, but not as paintings, but as sculptures made of musical instruments.

In 1995, Arman’s Hope for Peace monument was created in Beirut: he cast a total of 83 military vehicles in a 32-metre-high concrete sculpture.

Arman was born in Nice on November 17, 1928 as Armand Pierre Fernandez, had been an American citizen since 1973 and died on October 22, 2005 in New York City at the age of 76.

Arman has received numerous awards for his artistic work

1966 – Premio Marzotto
1972 – National Order of Merit
1984 – Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by French Minister of Culture
1989 – Knight (Chevalier) of the Legion of Honor – Awarded by President François Mitterrand

Works Armans in museums

museum FLUXUS+ (Potsdam) – Accumulation “Inclusion Kart d’art” from the year 2000 in the Fluxus permanent exhibition

Museum Abteiberg – Accumulations “Les encrier” (1961), “Le bon caviar” (1962) and other works by Arman in other techniques

Arman’s solo exhibitions

1956: First exhibition of paintings and cachets in Paris
1964: Documenta III in Kassel
1967: World’s Fair in Montreal
1968: Venice Biennale
1968: 4th documenta in Kassel
1970: World’s Fair in Osaka.
1977: Documenta 6 in Kassel
1980: Exhibitions in Germany and Japan
1982: “Great Retrospective. Parade of Objects”, Sprengel Museum, Hanover
1982: “Great Retrospective. Parade of Objects”, Hessisches Landesmuseum, Darmstadt
2010–11: Retrospective – Center Pompidou in Paris
2010–11: Retrospective – Museum Tinguely, Basel

4355 characters, H.W.

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