A founding member of the Fluxus group in the early 1960s, Ben Vautier and peers like George Brecht, Alison Knowles, George Maciunas, and Yoko Ono promoted the idea that art must shock its audiences. Vautier is widely recognized for his performances, installations, and especially his text-based paintings. Handwritten against solid backgrounds, Vautier’s messages reflect the artist’s worldview, commenting on current events or offering instructions for the public. Works like Why look? (1981) and No comment (1988) are at once humorous and thought-provoking. Vautier has participated in major international exhibitions like Documenta 5 (1972), curated by Harald Szeemann, and the Venice Biennale (1990). His work is held in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Walker Art Center, the Centre Pompidou, and the National Gallery of Victoria. In 2016–17 the Musée Maillol staged a retrospective of his work titled “Tout est art?,” reflecting Vautier’s ethos that “all is art.”
Ben Vautier: Art = Ben
Ben Vautier
