Ben Vautier (Naples 1935) is a French artist born to an Occitan-Irish mother and a Swiss-French father.
Ben was part of the Fluxus group during the 1960s together with Bertolt Brecht, George Maciunas and Robert Filliou. The street actions, the creations of total theatre and the acceptance of the identity between art and life became core elements of the movement and distinctive stylistic features of the French performance artist.
In the first phase of his life, Ben Vautier often travelled to various countries around the world, enriching his cultural and artistic vision: after having been to Turkey, Egypt, and Greece, he settled in Nice in 1949.
In France, he undertook his artistic research as a self-taught artist, art was conceived by him as novelty and exaltation of the ego, inspired by the works of Marcel Duchamp.
Ben Vautier constantly questions the legacy left by Marcel Duchamp and the consequences of the ‘ready-made’, eventually declaring in agreement with the exponents of the Fluxus movement that ‘Everything is art’. The boundaries between life and art are completely abolished.
“The French artist started signing his works in 1958: paintings, people, photos. Ben thought that if art is all about signing, then why not make a painting with his signature alone. Working on the concepts of self, ego and identity of the artist, Ben “seems to be saying that since for the public, art is synonymous with the artist’s signature, the more visible it is, the more the public will want that work”. At the same time, Ben talks about the self/self and the importance of self-referentiality in art, the exploration of the self and the self – both subjectively and as subject’. His 1960 manifesto ‘Moi Ben je signe’ shows the radical nature of his approach.” (from Galerie Eva Vautier).
Every action he takes is a work of art: for instance, he lives for fifteen days in the window of London’s One gallery in 1962, proclaiming ‘neo-Dada’ declarations such as: ‘I, the undersigned Ben Vautier, declare the absence of art to be an authentic work of art.
Also during the 1960s, Vautier mixed art and life to produce performances called “Vomir”, “Hurler” or “dire la vérité”, which he realised inside his shop in Rue Tonduti de l’Escarène or on the streets of Nice.
At the very end of the 1960s, Vautier gained notoriety with his ‘writings’, characterized by different shapes and painted on various media. The connection between words and thought thus became the theoretical basis of his artworks, while graphism and writing became the artist’s identifying mark.
An international specialist of the ‘white word traced on a black background’, Ben never ceases to come to terms with art, his ego, his anxieties, and the artistic avant-garde.
Over the years he continued his research into art as innovative art, and in 2007 the Province of Modena invited him to exhibit fifteen canvases in the Church of San Paolo as part of the Festival of Philosophy. The theme chosen is ‘ego-knowledge’. Here too, Ben holds a contradictory attitude: he starts from the observation that the act of creation is a product of the artist’s ego (ego and superego), but since the artist tends to change the given situation, he comes to the conclusion that ‘to change art one must change man, and to change man one must change, transform and even destroy one’s ego (ego, superego)’.
In 2005, he realized the performance ‘Piccolo concerto Fluxus per mangiare’, in which he decided to draw on canvas using his egg-stained nape instead of a paintbrush. In the action, he also composed random music with yogurt pots and plates, and made visitors enter a black room littered with red lettering: the place of fasting.
In 2010, Ben Vautier opened the space “Espace à débattre” in Nice, in the center of the Libération district.
Ben Vautier currently lives and works in Nice.

© Ben Vautier (1935)

SELECTED PERSONAL EXHIBITIONS

2011
Suspense au Windsor Hotel Windsor Nice
Art Paris, Galerie Lara Vincy “L’amour est magique”
La liberté n’existe pas Gal Maria Coccia, Rome
Galerie Rive Gauche Paris “il n’y a pas de rose sans épine”
Soyez réaliste demandez l’impossible Croix Baragnon, Toulouse
“De quoi avez vous peur ?” Espace Courant d’Art, Chevenez
“Art bores me” Gallery Vicky David NY
“Et après ça ?” Musée de Louviers, Louviers
“Achetez de l’or” Galerie Sanguine
2010
Publications de Ben, Bibliothèque Poletti,MODENA Italie, Bertoni
Retrospective “Strip Tease intégral” Musée d’Art Contemporain, Lyon
“L’art est ce qu’il est” Galerie C. Issert ,Saint Paul de Vence
“L’art contemporain me fait rire” Galerie Lara Vincy, Paris
“Takes art as it comes” gal Shuppenhauer, Cologne
Ne paniquez pas” Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Bruxelles
J’ai encore quelque chose à dire” Galerie Les Tournesols St Etienne
2009
“Ils se sont tous suicidés” Galerie Templon Paris
Foire du vêtement Barcelone Bonotto (vêtements écrits)
“La Baule privilège “Galerie Marcel Billy, La Baule
2008
Alliances Française Exposition itinérante
“L’art est partout” Espace Villeglé, Saint Gratien
Espace Cézanne, Aix en Provence “les flanneries d’Aix”
“Gegen kunst” Galerie Schuppenhauer, koln
“Le provocateur” Galerie JZ Art Trading, Milan
“La vie de tous les jours” Galerie Catherine Issert, Saint paul
“Ben se mouille” Collection de Ben à L’ateler Soardi, Nice
“Quien es Ben ?” Retrospective Musee Vostel, Malpartida
2007
“J’aime pas l’argent mais…” Banque UBS, Gene ( Gualco )
“Ben exagère” Consulat Suisse, Marseille
“Tutto e competizione” JZ art trading, Milano
“L’arte dei limiti” Galleria Il Ponte, Florence
“Je n’arrive pas à m’arrêter” Galerie Guy Pieters, Knokke
“Attention à l’indigestion culturelle” Galerie Lafayette, Nice
“Il sapere dell’ego” Provincia di Modèna (Italie)
“Tutto è ego” Studio d’Arte Fioretti, Bergamo
“Qu’est-ce que l’art ?” Galerie lara Vincy, Paris
2006
“Mira me” Galerie Caja Negra, Madrid
“Io dubito sempre” Galerie Soav, Alessandria
“Les limites de la photo” Musée André Villers, Mougins
“Je me noie” Galerie Khan, Ile de Ré
“Le hazard est partout” Galerie Unimedia, Gènes
“Tout est poèsie” Périgueux
“Je suis nul en céramique” Musée de la poterie, Vallauris
Galerie Fontaine d’Elor, Mougins
“Les autres” Galerie Marlborough, Monaco
2005
Espace Culturel Port Lympia, Nice
“Pas de peuple sans sa langue” Théâtre d’Apt
“L’art est mort vive l’art” Studio Marco Fioretti, Bergamo
“Bientôt on ne pourra plus arrêter la machine” Galerie Jean Brolly, Paris
“Aller au bout du bout à bout” Galerie Arkos, Clermont Fd
“La paix ou je crie” Maison de la culture Malakoff
Manif d’art, Québec (Canada)
Musée Chagall, Nice
“Je suis un sex maniac” Galerie Storme, Lille
A cent mètres du Centre du Monde, Perpignan
2004
“J’ai rêvé” Musée d’art et de Provence, Grasse
“Que se passe-t-il ?” Galerie Bagheera, Saint Tropez
“Le monde change” Arsenal, Metz
Le biz’art baz’art de Ben, Mac, Lyon Bazart
“L’art mange l’art” Galerie Lara Vincy Fiac, Paris
“Voulez vous coucher avec moi?” Galerie Sanguine, Paris
Fiesta des Suds, Marseille
“La partie cachée de l’Iceberg” Galerie Catherine Issert, Saint paul
2003
“Mon psy et moi” Galerie Charlotte Moser, Genève
“Je suis en guerre” Galerie Rive Gauche,strouk Paris
“Ben Arrête ton cinéma” Galerie Pop,Strouk Cannes
“Je n’ai pas d’oreille” Galerie du Théâtre, Beauvais
Ben biz’art bazart, Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris
Ben’Biz’art Baz’art, Musée de l’Objet, Blois bazart
“J’ai quelque chose à dire” Galerie Alma, Montpellier
“Difficile d’être un autre” Centre d’Arts Plastiques, Saint Fons
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