Arman

"ARMAN", ARMAND PIERRE FERNANDEZ (Nice, 1928 - New York, 2005).
"The shipwreck of Medusa", 1992.
4 etchings. Copy 100/100.
With poems by Jean Ristat.
Published by: Robert et Lydie Dutrou, Paris.
Signed and justified in pencil.
Measurements: 60 x 48 x 4 cm (folder).
The work takes as its starting point the famous event of the shipwreck of the Medusa, reinterpreting it from a plastic and literary perspective. The book includes four original etchings by Arman, in which the artist displays his characteristic visual language, marked by accumulation, fragmentation and an intense symbolic charge. Accompanying the images, Jean Ristat's poems add a reflective and emotional layer that amplifies the meaning of the work. His writing dialogues with the engravings, generating a balance between word and image.
Arman was one of the leading representatives of New Realism, focusing on everyday objects as a way of renewing artistic language. His work became especially known for "Accumulations" and "Encapsulations", techniques that consisted of grouping or enclosing commonly used objects, such as cameras, cars or banknotes, to criticize the consumer society and the throwaway culture. Trained in Nice and later at the Louvre School, he maintained contact with artists such as Yves Klein, with whom he founded the New Realism. In addition to being a painter, he was a musician and played the cello. His works, often installations of great visual impact, saturate space and question the role of the object in an industrialized society. He achieved great international recognition, with a presence in museums such as the Reina Sofia Museum, the MET or the Tate Modern, establishing himself as one of the most important French artists of his time.