NYAB Event - Daniel Buren "Hundred Vases"

Daniel Buren "Hundred Vases"

Vallois America

This event has ended.

For the very first time Friedman & Vallois presents the work of Daniel Buren on the occasion of the exhibition “Hundred Vases”.

“The site inspires the work” is how Daniel Buren himself summarizes the concept of this body of work. He demonstrates through this exhibition his ability to create visual expression by way of the related fields of the applied arts, in this instance ceramics.

Buren has constructed this project in several stages. Initially, he drew sketches of ten shapes of vases with bases of various geometric shapes (square, round, rectangular, triangular...) whose heights vary from 35 to 70 cm (13 to 27 inches). From these drawings ten full-size cardboard maquettes were constructed. Upon viewing this set Buren then modified some of the bases. Ten wood models were then designed from the ten cardboard examples for the process that followed the “elastomeric” molding fabrication. Finally, each model was cast in an edition of 10. Then he selected ten colors including yellow, gray, black, blue and green. From a series of 10 identical vessels, each one is differentiated by color. In the end 100 different works were created, each one unique. In this sense Daniel Buren adds “Hundred Vases” into his systematic refusal of multiples.

Invariably he proceeds to alternate color, a basic tenet of his work since 1967: 8, 7 cm (7 3.2 inches) separates each of the stripes. Coming back to the notion of stripes, not just for the pleasure of the story but for the fact that they determined Buren’s thought process. Their origin dates back to 1965 when he went to the Marché St. Pierre in Paris simply to replenish his supply of fabrics as at the time he was painting on colored bedspreads or run-of-the-mill burlap. His attention was shifted to a piece of striped awning fabric. From this ordinary piece of cloth he succeeded in reducing the application of the paint to zero. The striped fabric has the same basic properties as painting in terms of outline and color. Also, the stripes define the form and substance equally on a white background as when white on a colored background.

To conclude on a technical note, the casting of the vases, the first firing, and the white enameling were first completed in the South West of France, then transferred to the workshop “La Tuilerie” in Treigny, in Burgundy which was responsible for the coloration and second firing. Each jar, on the underside, is stamped “La Tuilerie” and the name Daniel Buren “Les cent vases” Pièce unique.

Media

• Sculpture
• Ceramics

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