CONCEPTUAL ART/1965-1980 / Sol Lewitt, Robert Barry, Mel Bochner, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Hanne Darboven, Ilya Kabakov, etc. SCHOOL OF NICE/1965-1975 / Yves Klein, Jean-Claude Farhi, etc.
Bernar Venet was born in Château-Arnoux-Saint-Auban (Alpes de Hautes Provence, France) in 1941. He studied in Nice and his first personal exhibition is organized in 1964. In 1963, he paints black canvases of tar, meaning «the black as the refusal of the easy communication». Venet composes cartoons monochrome reliefs. He becomes friend with the upholders of the "New Realism" (Arman, Cesar, Hains and Villeglé), with whom he participates in different exhibitions.
He settles down in New York in 1966. The artist creates abstract works which refer to the language and to the mathematical functions. In 1967, Venet develops his abstract work and creates "non visual" works on tapes.
He wishes, and makes from 1970 till 1976, a break in his work; Back to Paris, he teaches to La Sorbonne and gives conferences. He comes back to the art in 1976 and shows canvases and sculptures on the line subject. He creates, in 1979, his first sculptures of Bows and Angles and sets up, in 1983, the "basic structure of his indefinite lines". His success is global; he receives numerous state commissions and will set his monumental sculptures in the heart of numerous cities which will welcome his work (Cologne, Geneva, Nice, etc.).
He begins, in 1991, the series of reliefs consisted of arrows, arbitrary and simultaneous directions. In 2000, Bernar Venet creates "murals"; these mathematical equations borrowed from scientific works are drawn in black on uniform capital of lively colours, sometimes associated to a figure. By these "signs", the artist expresses the desire «to keep at a distance of the agreed field of the plastic arts».
In 2003, his Bows are set in the Jardin des Tuileries (Paris). Bernar Venet lives and works in New York and in the South of France. Feeling far from the french art conventions he considers "rehearsing", he is fascinated by the American formalism and, especially, Marcel Duchamp. From 1970, he is considered as one of the leaders of the conceptual art.
