It has been ten years since this artist disappeared. Arman Pierre Fernandez was born in Nice on November 17, 1928, and died on October 22, 2005, in New York.
Ten years without Arman, this archaeologist of industrial society. In the family furniture store on Paul Déroulède street, amid the scents of wax and wood, he discovered the potential of stamping on paper. A friend of Yves Klein through judo, Arman in 1961 broke furniture at the Roseland abbey, performing a rage here. His studio wasn’t far, as it was at La Lanterne.
Then Arman would achieve a uniqueness. Incendiary? Why not, if we take La Tulipe literally. Destructive? Then we’ve understood nothing; he does not destroy, he merely places pieces next to each other.
Collector? There we could open a debate; keys or various accumulations are in themselves a question that will never have an answer. Arman alone is a question, a thesis, and a debate.
The MAMAC, by paying him this tribute, allows us to rediscover this artist.
The showcasing of his collections and the Ferrero donation, along with videos of this artist, is a moving tribute to this man who transformed garbage, a mundane object, a deconstructed piano, a charred car, a disjointed violin, a pile of keys, or other miscellaneous objects, into works of art. It was daring, and the artist did it. Arman was a friend and accomplice of César, Sosno, Ben, and other figures of the Nice school.
This is the retrospective the MAMAC offers us, with an unprecedented innovation in a Nice museum. In December 1965, 50 years ago, Arman had imagined a kind of Santa Claus sack where various objects were deposited. The visitor would come, deposit whatever they wanted, and could take an item from the sack.
The MAMAC is repeating this operation. Visitors can take away an item of their choice by placing an object in the sack. It is a form of barter. The objects offered have some value for some, none for others. The principle is akin to the legend of Arthur.
Who here, like the young knight, will discover the Grail? Remember the illusion of beauty. The MAMAC, through this sack, invites visitors to better understand Arman. Where is the art? In the fire of the Tulipe or the consequence of that fire?
Destruction, deconstruction, the genesis of things, accumulations—so many inquiries rather than questions. Arman is in himself a subject of philosophy and a call to wisdom, hence this exchange sack.
This exhibition can be visited until March 6, 2016, at the MAMAC and the photo album souvenir of this artist can be viewed at the Ferrero Donation at place Pierre Gautier in Nice. Two places for one artist, two tributes to Arman.
Thierry Jan
