(Credits: Soardi)
Celebrated artist and key figure of the Fluxus movement of the 1960s and ’70s in France, Ben Vautier, has passed away at the age of 88. He was noted for his comedic performances and paintings which sought to blur the lines between the art world and everyday life.
Vautier, who often went by the moniker of Ben, was found dead at his home in Nice on June 5th, only a day after his wife passed away as a result of a stroke. The artist is thought to have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to French authorities.
Originally, the Naples-born artist made a name for himself within the Fluxus artistic movement, which brought focus to performance art, experimental music and painting with an aim to destroy the boundaries between art and ordinary life. Vautier was a key figure within this scene, helping to establish the look of modern avant-garde painting and performance. He would often incorporate everyday items within his works, famously proclaiming that “everything is art”.
Ben would often render this slogan in paint across his artworks, occasionally adapting its meaning to suit his aims at the time. In 1972, at the Documenta Art Festival in Germany, he painted ‘Kunst Ist Überflüssig’ (‘Art Is Superfluous’) on a banner which he then hung over the Fridericianum museum. Throughout his artistic career, Vautier rallied against the pretentiousness and superiority of mainstream art scenes.
Perhaps the most obvious instance of this artistic rebellion was his work Le magasin de Ben, a shop which was open from 1958 to 1973. Originally, the bizarre shop sold records and cameras, but soon became a place of pilgrimage for fans of avant garde art. With walls covered in paintings and artistic installations by Ben.
Even with that incredibly popular installation – which now resides in the Centre Pompidou in Paris – Ben was quick to note that the shop was “not for the art crowd,” explaining, “the art school was 100 metres away and the students were forbidden from coming to my place”. The artist, who never attended art school, was keen to bring his work to ordinary people.
In addition to his paintings, Ben is perhaps best remembered for his crass performance art, which forced onlookers to view his performances, which included urinating into a jar and banging his head against a wall, as art. His death leaves a gaping hole in the world of avant garde art, but his epitaph “everything is art” will continue to capture the imagination of creatives for years to come.