The Artist
And his World
Armand Pierre Fernandez
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FROM NICE TO
PARIS & NEW YORK
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Armand Pierre Fernandez was born on November 17, 1928 in Nice. His father, an antique dealer and amateur cellist, early planted the seed of what would become central to his son’s artistic vision - the relationship with objects. The young Arman showed exceptional talent for drawing and painting and influenced by Vincent van Gogh he began signing his early works with only his first name.
THE COLLABORATION
WITH GALLERI GKM
In 1985, one of Galleri GKM’s most significant artistic collaborations began when Siwert Bergström met Arman at FIAC in Paris. It was the beginning of a twenty-year creative dialogue that would shape both parties’ development. ”There was something in Arman’s way of seeing objects that spoke directly to Scandinavian aesthetics” Bergström later reflected. ”He understood that beauty could be found in the everyday.”
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DESTRUCTION
AS CREATION
Another form of creative destruction resulted in the series ”The Day After” from 1984. The series consists of furniture from a living room in the Classical French style which the artist has burnt so they are not reusable yet they retain their identity. The fragile remnants have then been cast in bronze.
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MUSIC AS VISUAL FORM
Music permeated Arman’s artistic universe as a fundamental force. His relationship to musical instruments was intense - he saw them not just as tools for sound but as sculptural objects with their own beauty and dramatic potential.
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The first Arman exhibition in Malmö, ”Trio à cordes”, took place in 1987 when Arman staged a “happening” in Malmö Concert Hall. This was followed by several exhibitions in the gallery, at the Stockholm Art Fair, at FIAC in Paris and at the Glyptoteket in Copenhagen.
The highlight of exhibitions was in 1989 when Siwert Bergström together with the curator Marianne Nanne Bråhammar arranged the legendary ”happening” at Lund Konsthall.
EXHIBITION THAT
MADE HISTORY
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EVERYDAY POETRY
Arman’s revolutionary vision was based on a radical revaluation of the relationship between art and everyday objects. His ”accumulations” transformed forks, women’s shoes, credit cards and revolvers into art through carefully composed arrangements where each object contributed to a larger visual whole. In parallel, he developed his ”colères” - works where he cut apart, burned and sawed objects like violins and motorcycles.
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