Transforming the banal into artworks
BEIRUT: When Dada pioneer Marcel Duchamp famously submitted a urinal to the 1917 exhibition for the Society of Independent Artists, the committee was less than amused.
As London’s Tate Museum notes in its write-up on the work, Duchamp’s representation of such an object as art was seen to be an “assault on convention and good taste.”
Duchamp’s avant-garde vision has since influenced other artists. The late Franco-American artist Arman (born Arman Fernandez) was inspired by Dada’s use of found objects.
“The Sublimation of the Object,” an exhibition currently up at Mark Hachem Gallery, assembles several of the major works from the artist’s prolific career, purchased from a private auction in Paris.
Arman (1928-2005) was a major contributor to France’s Nouveau Realisme (new realism) movement. The chief concern of the movement was to examine the artistic possibilities of everyday objects by appropriating and recontextualizing them. The movement’s influence is evident in the elaborate mixed-media installations and paintings made of commonplace items on show in “Sublimation.”
Arman’s interest in music is evident as it is a dominant motif within the show.
The 2002 work “Inclusion de Violon Brule,” 72x30x26 cm, features a charred violin that’s been partially disassembled and encased in polymer resin. The hardened liquid lends the installation an ethereal quality, as the smashed bits appear to float midair.
“Violon Decoupe,” 70×20 cm is a bronze sculpture of a disassembled violin. Its parts twist in different directions, creating a surreal three-dimensional effect.
The violin isn’t the only instrument referenced here.
The mixed-media canvas “Fayruz” (2002) is comprised of black-and-white collage of texts, photos and sheet music associated with the much-loved Lebanese vocalist Fairuz.
The bodies of a violin and an oud have been dipped in purple, red and black paint and applied atop the collage – the way a woodblock might be used to imprint a textile.
Gallerist Mark Hachem, the show’s curator, had the opportunity to meet Arman before his death.
He says Arman was particularly fond of Fairuz.
Elsewhere in the show, Arman’s work is comprised of collections of found objects.
His 1989 “Inclusion de Porclaine,” 120x90x12 cm, features a mass of porcelain shards, bonded together with resin and placed in a rectangular frame.
A similar framing mechanism is at work in “Inclusion de Reveils,” 2002 – a collection of antique alarm clocks embedded in resin and encased in Plexiglas.
Arman’s use of resin makes the works appear to be drawn together by some sort of invisible force. The application of resin to some objects creates a sense of frozen motion.
In “Macbeth,” 160x120x5 cm, four rows of red nail polish bottles have been placed upside down in the resin.
The nail polish has flowed out to pool into clumps.
Similarly in “Aqua Frego- 37/99,” 70x40x10 cm, paint has oozed colorfully from paint tubes suspended upside down.
Arman’s at times intriguing transformation of banal objects into works of art is certainly worth a look.
Source: www.dailystar.com.lb