“On est tous foutraques!”: it is under this title that Benjamin Vautier, alias Ben, exhibits for a year in Nice, in a cheerfully crazy atmosphere, more than 500 pieces, his own but also many from his personal collection, signed Combas or complete strangers.
From May 5 to May 6, 2024, this exhibition brings together a total of 550 works at the Anatole Jakovsky International Museum of Naive Art. Everything overflows into the garden, with sculptures or installations, like this ring called to host debates.
Known for his famous slogans written in white handwritten letters on a black background, “I don’t know what to say”, “Fais moi swan” or “How do I know if it’s art or not?”, which gave rise to many by-products, Ben is also one of the best-known representatives of the avant-garde Fluxus movement since his meeting in London, in the early 1960s, with the main founder of this movement, George Maciunas.
“It’s a failed exhibition, I put all my family memories instead of putting masterpieces”, he explained Friday during the opening: “I scraped my drawer bottoms, I found friends, I found souvenirs, and I put them in this souvenir shop,” added the artist, now 87.
“Each of them has something to say, each brings something, that’s what interests me, the pure copier, I eliminate it”, he specified about this selection which presents in particular the work of visual artists Bernar Venet or Patrick Moya.
These works acquired by Ben alongside his, more than 300 in total, including several created especially for the occasion. A bit disconcerting, this exhibition is completed by works from the permanent collection of the museum, those of Douanier Rousseau in particular.
“All is art becomes frog”
In an explosive cocktail, Ben chose to bring together artists like this assistant to Buren, who had settled in Place du Tertre in Montmartre to earn a living by saying “that to be zero is to be ahead of the others “, with complete strangers, including one, bipolar, who came every week to sell Ben a painting, or on the contrary with highly rated stars like Robert Combas. “One of the artists I prefer”, testified the octogenarian, who had acquired several of his paintings in the 80s.
“After a first exhibition with him in another place in Nice three years ago, I wanted him to do it again here, in this museum of naive art, for a period of one year, which is rare today”, explained Robert Roux, deputy mayor of Nice in charge of Culture. “Well, he’s the one who talks the most about ego but he’s also the one who has the least, because he’s the one who highlights others the most by exposing them,” said the chosen one.
Invited during the opening to perform a performance, the peeling of a 10 kilo bag of potatoes, Jean Mas, another figure from the Nice school, spoke of Ben as an “indispensable” artist. “You can’t ignore everything he did, even if some say it’s a mess in art, but that’s okay, everything is art, and everything is art (Editor’s note: “everything tadpole”) becomes a frog”, launched this artist between two strokes of the vegetable peeler and a tirade, screaming to wake up the dead.
During this exhibition year, various events, happenings or debates will be held in the purest tradition of the Fluxus movement, where music, poetry and performances play a central role.
13/05/2023 10:40:25 – Nice (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
2023-05-13 09:05:00
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