“Art is the illusion of disorientation, the illusion of liberty, the illusion of presence, the illusion of the sacred, the illusion of Nature. … Not the painting of Buren, Mosset, Parmentier or Toroni…. Art is a distraction, art is false. Painting begins with Buren, Mosset, Parmentier, Toroni.”

Lucy R. Lippard

Daniel Buren (b. 1938, France)

Daniel Buren is one of France’s leading contemporary artists. His work,

occupying the intersection between sculpture, installation, architecture,

performance, and painting, is renowned for its combination of simplicity and

conceptual rigor.

His citywide temporary and permanent site-specific installations may be seen all

around the world. He began painting in the early 1960s, but in 1965, he

abandoned traditional painting for the 8.7-cm-wide vertical stripes, alternating

between white and a color, that have become his signature style. Working on-site,

he strives to contextualize his artistic practice within architectural space, using the

stripe – a popular French fabric motif – as a means of visually relating art to its

situation, a form of language in space rather than a space in itself. Denoting the

trademark stripes as a visual instrument or ‘seeing tool,’ he invites viewers to take

up his critical standpoint, challenging traditional ideas about art.

Buren represented France at the Venice Biennale in 1986, and Biennials,

museums, and corporations have repeatedly commissioned his work for their

highly visible events. Louis Vuitton, Hermes, and the London Underground have

each commissioned his works for public art interventions. His work may also be

viewed in museums around the world as well in leading private collections.