DANIEL BUREN

Daniel Buren is one of the most important artists of his generation, with an oeuvre that revolutionized the artistic field in the 1960s. Since then, Buren has been a leading name of conceptual art as a founding member of the Buren, Mosset, Parmentier, Toroni association, and remains thus to this day. He is best known for using symmetrical white and coloured stripes that integrate visual surfaces and architectural spaces, notably in historical landmarks. Importantly, Buren began his artistic career by producing unsolicited public works, which made use of striped awning textiles commonly found in France. He subsequently placed thousands of striped posters throughout Paris (in 1967/68), and then inside over one-hundred different metro stations in the city. Since then, the artist has continued to incorporate stripes in his production, becoming a signature technique that has also been included in iconic permanent installations such as his work for the Palais-Royal in Paris, France (1985–1986).

Throughout his trajectory, Daniel Buren has created thousands of ‘in situ’ installations throughout the world. Most of these works are destroyed following their exhibition, meaning that their existence becomes circumscribed to the time and place for which they were conceived. This aspect of the artist’s practice notably reveals the highly regenerating nature of his production, as it is continuously reinvented with every new project. Buren has participated in over 2400 exhibitions, including two editions of the Bienal de São Paulo (1983 and 1985), as well as numerous editions of the Biennale di Venezia, and Documenta in Kassel. His works are part of major museum collections worldwide, including the Centre Pompidou in Paris, France; the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), in New York; and Tate Modern in London, amongst others.

His most recent works function as architectural instruments that establish a dialogue with pre-existing architecture, and that engage in a process of spatial alterations, playful juxtaposition of materials and chromatic explosions. On the occasion of this exhibition, Buren has created a series of works through which he investigates the properties of colours and materials—such as bronze, aluminium, mirror, brass and acrylic- in relation to space. Though all works follow the same compositional principles, their material and chromatic make-up allow for different reflexive possibilities, creating diverse forms of dialoguing with space, light and colour within the same place. The works also include Buren’s iconic black and white stripes, which evoke his most characteristic visual strategy and recall the artist’s initial artistic intention whereby he sought to achieve absolute neutrality.

Ultimately, New Grids: bas-reliefs, situated works, 2021, presents works that synthesise the long-standing questions, techniques and material addressed in Buren’s practice at different stages in his career. The exhibition will thus offer an opportunity to delve into the work of this seminal artist who continues to renew his practice, constantly expanding and challenging the matter of perception.