Ben Vautier

BENJAMIN VAUTIER, known as Ben, is a major French painter of the 20th century, renowned for his actions and paintings, as well as for his writings in various forms. His punchlines, infused with irony and impertinence, which he integrates into our daily lives with a constant reflection on art and the relationship with oneself, ego, or truth, combining impertinence and accuracy of expression in his “writings”, allow him to gain some notoriety with the public from the late 1960s. He is part of the postmodern artistic avant-garde and belongs to the Fluxus group in Postal Art and is close to Lettrism. In the late 1950s, he opened a small shop that quickly became a meeting place and exhibition space, where Arman, César Baldaccini, Martial Raysse, and other leading members of what would become the École de Nice gathered. Convinced that “new art must bring a shock,” a first series of drawings around the banana marks the beginning of his graphic research in 1955. Ben will create a gallery “Ben doubts everything” in 1965 in the mezzanine of his store and will exhibit, among others, Martial Raysse, Albert Chubac, Bernar Venet, Marcel Alocco, and Daniel Biga. The artist exhibits Robert Combas and Hervé di Rosa in his house in Saint-Pancrace and is very involved in the contemporary scene by always supporting young artists and giving his point of view on all current events. Ben is entrusted with the preparation of the collective exhibition “À propos de Nice,” which inaugurates the Centre Pompidou in 1977, a sort of Parisian recognition of the research matured and carried out outside the capital by the École de Nice. Today, his works are present in the greatest private and public collections in the world, notably the MoMA in New York, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, the National Museum of Modern Art in Paris, and the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Nice.