BERTRAND LAVIER

Bertrand Lavier came to international attention in the 1976 Venice Biennale. With his large scale assemblages, or “building sites,” Lavier explored ideas of appropriation and simulacrum, diverting images of contemporary mass culture into works of art. Influenced by the works of Duchamp and the Nouveaux Realists, as well as conceptual artist such as Joseph Kosuth and Dennis Oppenheim, Lavier attempted to expose underlying tensions between fine art and its representation, reality and simulation. His most well known work subvert the paradoxical relationship between painting and sculpture, by coating ready-made objects, such as refrigerators, pianos and tables, with thick layers of impasto. Unlike his contemporaries who emphasised the dematerialisation of the art object, Lavier’s works strike a balance between powerful visual image and conceptual gesture. Characteristic of his practice is the translation of motifs between media, an aesthetic grafting that is also a tongue in statement.