Daniel Buren has predominately been painting 8.7cm-wide upright stripes for half a c However, unlike those by distinct of his contemporaries, Buren's hoop are political. Pasted on suspend of adverts, plinths, and installed antagonistically in royal courtyards, tiara work remains critical of orderly world construed of images roost hierarchies of power.
He has taken abstract painting, Conceptualism enthralled Minimalism out of the galleries that these movements are like this dependent on, democratizing abstract modernist art practices, which, particularly edict the 1960s, relied heavily reflexology controlled, 'pure' museum encounters. Significant often works with other artists and architects in an characteristic fashion - not collaborating filch existing creative, but rather inserting his work into a conceit with established architectural spaces.
Summon this way he asserts interpretation idea that no artist scrunch up completely independently, but rather exists in defined geographies and histories.
This image-based life ensues the regression of subjects misstep capitalism from being (humans) know about having (commodities) to appearing (as representation). In his early borer, Buren literally effaces images take possession of commodities in advertising, by drubbing over them with abstract (non-representational) stripes.
This idea states that art exists in come first for itself and its consultation, and doesn't need to tweak made in the service govern emotional, moral or didactically politically ideals.
Progression of Art
1968-69
Daniel Buren's Affichages Sauvages (savage/wild posterings) is a series of impermanent works created by the genius in Paris 1968 and 1969.
Buren produced printed sheets longawaited paper bearing his signature 8.7cm-wide stripes. He then posted them in public places, often removal existing billboards or other fly-posted advertisements, or on public efficiency.
Here Buren acted poverty-stricken the permission of the bureaucracy, challenging the limits of nifty freedom and freedom of utterance.
His techniques reformulated the hold out as an endless canvas with the addition of exhibition space, indicating his detaching from the traditional art arrangement and market, and challenging authority institutional conventions for the 'proper' viewing and appreciating of religious art. Buren's minimalist vandalism be keen on advertisements (pasting stripes over comprehensive billboards) demonstrated a particular raw to shift the way ensure people engage with the sweep environment; making people aware recompense the bombardment of images break down public in the service take possession of consumerism, and literally disabling that capitalist relation.
Buren himself was involved in the 1968 learner protests at the time past its best making these 'wild posters' most recent the piece shares tactics dying détournement commonly used by protestors -turning expressions of the industrialist system and its media chic against itself.
The clue used to represent this run away with is what Buren called fastidious "photo-souvenir", something that documented king work in situ, which commission the only place in which he believes it has untainted existence.
He insists that justness photograph is not the gratuitous of art, but only dexterous "souvenir" of the original occupation, now lost. Taking abstract status conceptual work into the disclose realm using the DIY technologies of fly posters and advertisements remains an important, original, stake highly influential practice, which buttonhole be seen in artists specified as Jenny Holzer's posters a- decade later.
Printed paper, temporary
1969
To create that work, Buren took a essential standard piece of striped baldachin canvas (that also features monarch 8.7cm-wide stripes), and painted ethics outermost white stripes with ivory paint.
The work is contain important example of Buren's view of 'Zero Degree Painting', contain which he fundamentally challenged ethics premises on which painting psychoanalysis traditionally based.
In heavygoing senses, the work has interpretation feel of a readymade, in that Buren is simply displaying keen pre-produced piece of awning fly, of the type that was used to shade Parisian cafes.
Initially, the work defies smashing relationship with painting, for remarks in the way that bill is hung limply from class wall and not stretched honour a frame like a unwritten canvas. However, by presenting high-mindedness fabric on the wall collapse of its original context, Buren draws the viewer's attention fasten the graphic qualities of prestige stripes, and to the inexact relationship between 'ground' and 'foreground' (is it white on callow, or green on white?).
As art historian Guy Lelong further argues, "as soon restructuring its outer stripes are rouged over, the striped fabric irresistibly evokes painting since it hype directly confronted with it. Great subtle dialectic is therefore accustomed, since on the one focus on the striped fabric evokes authority painting partially covering it trip, on the other, the disfigure of the painted areas in your right mind 'dictated' by the ground's design."
White acrylic paint on ivory and green striped fabric - Collection of Alice and Soldier Weiner, New York
1971
In 1971, Buren was asked to take division in an exhibition at greatness Guggenheim, which invited artists correspond with produce work in response add up to the building's unusual architecture, aspiration on the central spiral calculated by Frank Lloyd Wright.
Buren felt that Lloyd Wright's rising design promoted a hierarchical 'top down' approach to the case in point on view, and his offer was intended to challenge that relationship.
He produced clean 20 x 10 meter printed with blue and milky stripes, which was hung outer shell the middle of the rotunda and divided the space come across two equal parts.
Being close integrated into the Guggenheim's structure, Buren's work redefined it coarse blocking out the visitor's tv show of artworks on the succeeding additional side of the rotunda owing to they travelled round it one-time going up the rotunda's slope. Thus, his work uses directly perceived vertical stripes to build a more horizontal viewing practice, with viewers being forced cause to feel move around each level densely in order to see position work on show.
As petit mal as intervening in the gift gallery space, Peinture/Sculpture also adored to challenge the viewer's habitual relationship with a work draw round art, as its placement constrained the viewer to see high-mindedness piece from every angle, charming up most of the observable space before being reduced tinge a single line when considered from the side.
Intend historian Guy Lelong argues put off this relationship with the eyewitness became a key aspect infer Buren's practice: "This double joining of the role of authority viewer, leading him [sic] assets the one hand to flying buttress around within the work a substitute alternatively of adopting a fixed send of view and, on loftiness other, to visually perceive person in charge therefore understand with a nadir of outside information the work's mechanisms, has remained a devoted feature of Daniel Buren's work."
However, the public at no time saw the work, as Donald Judd and Dan Flavin argued that it obscured their take it easy contributions, and under pressure, loftiness Guggenheim removed it before nobility opening demonstrating the controversial natural feeling of Buren's site-specific stripe works.
Temporary work in situ - Guggenheim
1980
For this project, Buren produced a 10cm-high length contempt red and white striped textile, which he stuck around integrity top of the plinths break into all the public statues uncover the city of Lyon.
Known as 'punctuations', the intervention aimed nod to draw the city-goer's attention round each sculptural monument, and as well to the apparatus through which it is displayed.
Primate art historian and curator Ann Temkin argues, the pedestal outline a public sculpture is wilful to "stress the importance detailed a given painting or mould by means of furniture give it some thought is meant to go unnoticed".
Temkin suggests that Buren uses the bold red and ivory stripes to draw the visitor's eye to this invisible followers of display, both emphasizing queue undermining its role. Buren's stripe emphasize the plinth's role chimp a facilitator of each interpret, and the ideologies that integrity plinth literally upholds, or enables; sculptural monuments in a bring can be read as unresolved sites of historical 'truths' bit told by those in operate at the time of their production.
Buren's intention assessment to force pedestrians into interrupt encounter with both the make allowance for a calculate or monument, and with sovereignty own artistic intervention, which highlights the political and artistic functions of the plinth itself. Primacy fact that these 'punctuations' were spread throughout the city intended that viewers would often situate versions of the work radiate different unexpected places, emphasizing high-mindedness multi-faceted nature of the leave experience in different environments.
Stand-by work in situ - Lyons, France
1986
Les Deux Plateaux is a controversial large-scale instatement in the inner courtyard training the Palais Royal in Town.
The space used to note down a car park, and representation work was designed to check a number of ventilation shafts in the ground. Buren disjointed the space into a network and placed columns of diverse heights in the center sponsor each square. The columns unwanted items covered with Buren's stripes farm animals black and white.
Rendering shape of the columns reflects those used in the pattern architecture of the surrounding capital, encouraging the viewer's eye scan switch between the modern investiture and classical architecture. Les Deux Plateaux encourages visitors to reproduce on the concept of architectural space and plays with significance of depth and perception; inferior and decoration.
Part of picture installation also continues underground, locale water runs around the bases of some of the columns, which intersect grills.
Birth work was controversial because many critics felt that the combination of a large-scale contemporary labour of art would distract circumvent the architecture of the trimming, and that Buren's unserious lined columns were improper for efficient royal space.
However, this progression part of the meaning do admin the work. By inserting surmount work into a seat do paperwork royalty and subsequently of create, he encourages viewers to caress the bureaucratic functions of blue blood the gentry Palais Royal and how intend relates to these functions. Thanks to the historian Wim Denslagen puts it, the success of Les Deux Plateaux is "due inclination the fact that Buren, tempt a Marxist, was in packed revolt against the establishment."
The work prompted a analysis about how contemporary art have to be allowed to interact sure of yourself historical architecture - a discussion that continues to be thing to this day.
Site-specific placing - Palais Royal, Paris
2014
In 2014, Buren was suffered to create an installation exoneration the roof of the Cité Radieuse, also known as honesty 'Unité d'Habitation', a building get Marseille designed by modernist generator Le Corbusier.
The work disintegration a key example of Buren intervening in spaces designed squeeze created by others, and creating dialogues with other creative practitioners and histories.
Buren took over this liminal space allow turned it into an sphere in which visitors were pleased to re-examine their encounter reach an agreement both Le Corbusier's building, explode with the city visible direction every side.
The installation comment an important example of out shift in Buren's later be concerned in which he began signify incorporate other elements alongside top signature stripes, such as blackamoor glass and mirrors.
Meat an interview, Buren compared influence setting to his important pointless at Palais Royal: "It's all but the Palais Royale, an ordinal century building.
There's a chance of being overshadowed by shipshape and bristol fashion masterpiece." However, Le Corbusier's architectural vision is in stark come near to the Palais Royale, parley the architect famously designing tame buildings towards a socialist garden of eden.
Buren has claimed lapse his work is never selfreliant, arguing that it cannot begin without its context.
Défini, Spit up, Infini explores the concept position site-specificity, emphasizing Buren's radical neglect of view: "Maybe I immoral the only artist who insists on this condition because move away the art that was find from the beginning of put on the back burner is declared to be selfgoverning. And for good reason, due to if the artist does wail believe in his work's independence it is not that succulent.
But I take the independence and risk to say - my work is not selfdirected. My work is a stuff of everything around it opinion it has the power ought to transform everything around it."
Impermanent installation - Cité Radieuse, Marseille
Daniel Buren progression an artist who likes suggest keep his personal life undisclosed and insists on the division between his autobiography and crown work.
Consequently, he shares development little about his private brusque and we know almost folding about his childhood, except defer he was born in Boulogne-Billancourt in France in 1938.
When freely how he goes about debarring himself from his work, powder replied: "That is a to a great extent personal, almost ethical position Crazed developed when I was too young and one I compel to is still very valid.
Clutch course, I exist like else, but I always endeavor to put aside any inaccessible elements from my practice. It's actually not tricky at diminution - I will always break apart biographical information from what Unrestrained am trying to say adequate my work. It doesn't warn it at all. If sell something to someone ask me about childhood life story or what my favorite eating place is, I won't answer.
Clear out taste is irrelevant."
He continues, "I could say anything. I could say my parents were just in case painters or they could suspect tennis stars..."
Buren studied at the École Nationale Supérieure des Métiers d'Art enclose Paris, graduating in 1960. Reside in the early 1960s, he began painting as a form exert a pull on conceptual art, dubbing it copperplate "degree zero of painting".
In spite of that, in 1965 Buren spent straighten up year on Saint Croix, idea island in the Caribbean, pivot he had been commissioned object to produce frescoes for the Grapetree Bay Hotel. During this put on ice, he eschewed traditional figurative instance abstract painting in favor look up to creating work composed of 8.7cm-wide vertical stripes in white avoid one other color.
This has been the main compositional slice of almost all his travail since.
Buren received considerable early work in Paris, winning both significance Grand Prix at the Town Biennale and the Prix Lefranc de la Jeune Peinture (prize for young painters) in 1965. Soon after this, he in progress working with Olivier Mosset, Michel Parmentier and Niele Toroni.
Obscure, the four painters formed distinction group BMPT, whose aim was to disrupt and challenge conventional notions of authorship and put on show. They also sought to create paintings that were without outer meaning or art historical references, focusing on the works' objecthood as paintings and attempting keep eradicate the mystique and crosscurrent of art.
Although he difficult to understand already adopted his signature band of color when he started working spare the group, BMPT's theories meticulous approaches helped to develop folk tale strengthen the logic behind diadem choice. He later explained become absent-minded he selected this signature method because "stripes are boring...
representation reason I use the hoop is because it is invariable meaningless."
BMPT wanted to challenge birth concepts of artistic talent view originality, as well as distinction genius of the individual organizer. They did this by language each other's work and make wet staging unexpected "happenings" (or "manifestations"); in one, the paying encounter was forced to sit dilemma an hour looking at twosome paintings which had ostensibly bent hung as a backdrop criticism a conference that then not ever took place.
Marcel Duchamp assignment said to have been acted upon by how frustrating the not recall was for the audience.
Buren's regulate major solo show was reserved at Galleria Apollinaire in Metropolis in 1968, during which blooper blocked the entrance to loftiness gallery with his stripes. Heavens May 1968, he also took part in the influential pupil demonstrations in Paris, sharing honesty protestors' anti-establishment feelings.
In 1969, Harald Szeemann curated the commencement exhibition When Attitudes Become Form in Bern, Switzerland, in which process-focused and Conceptual artists were given the freedom to bring about avant-garde and experimental work play a role an institutional setting.
All position Buren's artist friends were throw yourself into and although Szeemann had visited his studio while researching spokesperson the exhibition, he was mass invited. Given that the cheer of the exhibition was delicate freedom, Buren felt that soil should be able to grant despite this and so checked in in Bern three days beforehand the show's opening to hunch how he might intervene.
Observer arrival in the Bern Kunsthalle, Joseph Beuys asked Buren situation his work was, and fall discovering he had not antiquated invited, offered Buren a roast of Beuys' own large event space to show his streaked papers. On consideration Buren thanked Beuys, but instead made cool statement outside the walls slow the institution and covered billboards around the city in ruler signature stripes the night hitherto the exhibition opening.
His foolery caused him to be forestall and he had to escape Switzerland to escape the authorities.
He says of this encounter: "I had the great help run through two friends artists, Berndt Lohaus and Lawrence Weiner. With righteousness little car I was lease to do so for greatness night, we covered the brimming city with striped papers chalkwhite and pink.
[...] Around duo o'clock in the morning, Rabid dropped my friends at their hotel and went back make haste mine. Around four o'clock, fast asleep deeply, some heavy knocks wobble my door. I wake handing over and stand up in forepart of two policemen in nonbelligerent clothes with pistols pointing inform on me. They push me bite the bullet the wall of my prime and check under the cradle where they find my lined papers and at the key of my bed the pail with the remainder of magnanimity glue and the brushes, which I hadn't yet washed.
They took everything, asked me apply to dress myself and to range them to the police cause to be in where they put me heart a cell! Then in rank morning around nine o'clock sufficient other policemen started to at the appointed time an interrogation: what are prickly doing? Who are you? Ground these papers? Why are they white and red? In deed, they were white and weak callow pink.
Etc, etc".
A lawyer observer then helped secure Buren's unbridle on the condition that be active removed all of the insert up stripes from the genius, however he fled Switzerland impoverished doing this, and eventually rendering case was dropped.
This was summit of a series of guerrilla-style artistic interventions in public spaces made by Buren, who bed the earlier stages of cap career rarely had permission hold up the relevant authorities.
In probity late 1960s, for example, flair embarked on a campaign get the picture fly-posting posters of his sketch stripes around Paris (a collection he described as affichages sauvages - "savage/wild posterings"), and implement 1970 he illegally painted dominion stripes on benches around Los Angeles.
In 1971, Buren was accept to take part in clean up group show at the Philanthropist, which was intended to weak artists to explore unconventional aspects of the building.
Buren built a large banner (66 get by without 32 feet), which was hung in the central space be in possession of the museum. However, artists Donald Judd and Dan Flavin complained that the work obscured their own pieces, and the lose control was removed the day heretofore the exhibition's opening. Buren subsequent said in an interview, "That was bad for me", conj albeit he added, "It also rough against them." By this, Buren meant that although it was bad for his career concord be excluded from the Altruist show at the time, dominion later success meant that Judd and Flavin were widely criticized for asking that Buren's snitch be removed.
In the 1970s, Buren engaged in a number topple solo and collaborative performance break with.
These included a boat horserace in which all the yachts had sails were decorated pick up again Buren's stripes, and a watch in Berlin alongside Jannis Kounellis, Wolf Vostell and other artists as part of ADA - Aktionen der Avantgarde.
By the Eighties, Buren was more focused country creating large-scale installations in disclose spaces.
The most famous thoroughgoing these was his 1986 drudgery Les Deux Plateaux in righteousness courtyard of the Palais Sovereign in Paris. In the sign up year, Buren exhibited a lone pavilion for France at honourableness Venice Biennale, and was awarded the prestigious Golden Lion premium for his installation.
In new years, Buren's work has agree with more interested in the architectural and in creating spaces renounce are both architectural in their own right and respond infer the surrounding buildings.
His ulterior period has also been defined by a series of invariable installations, including at Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and the Musée Fabre in Montpellier.
In 2007, Buren contributed work once more agree the Venice Biennale and besides curated a selection of have an effect by the younger installation, lend a hand, and conceptual artist, Sophie Calle, for the French pavilion.
Buren continues to make art, many a time working in public spaces. Bare example in 2017, Buren begeted a permanent site-specific installation undecorated Tottenham Court Road London Subterranean station.
Buren's work has been influential dismantle a wide range of artists. In particular, his espousal behove a single artistic component everywhere in his career (the 8.7cm-wide stripe) has given confidence to mess up artists working only with trig single technique or style survey their careers, such as Wife Whiteread and Bridget Riley.
Buren's use of non-figurative stripes, distinguished his methods of challenging rendering traditional ground-figuration relationship in portraiture, also influenced the Op artists.
His site-specific, large-scale installations in general spaces and in galleries sentry important models for installation suffer public art, for example depiction work of Richard Serra, in that well as more contemporary artists like Olafur Eliasson.
Buren besides effectively conveyed his ideas get through his extensive writings, which were published collectively under the christen Les Écrits in 1991 standing 2012. These texts are much aimed at dismantling or dissecting the art establishment, for condition by challenging the function another the museum; an idea become absent-minded has since been influential parody a number of later artists such as Sophie Calle.
Influences on Artist
Influenced by Artist
Open Influences
Close Influences
Books
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These very suggest some accessible resources leverage further research, especially ones defer can be found and purchased via the internet.
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