Daniel Buren

Daniel Buren is one of the most acclaimed artists in the global arena, with his creations being embraced by prestigious institutions and venues worldwide.

Biography of Daniel Buren

Daniel Buren was born in 1938 in Boulogne-Billancourt (Paris), France. He completed his education at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Métiers d'Art in Paris in 1960.

Initially starting his artistic journey with painting in the early 1960s, his direction shifted significantly by 1965. Spending a year at the Grapetree Bay Hotel on the Caribbean island of Saint Croix, where he was commissioned to create frescoes, marked a pivotal moment. During this time, he forsook traditional painting in favor of his now-iconic 8.7 cm-wide vertical stripes, alternating between white and one color, which have since become his distinctive signature.

Between 1966 and 1967, he collaborated with fellow artists Olivier Mosset, Michel Parmentier, and Niele Toroni to establish the BMPT group. Their objective was to streamline paintings to their fundamental physical and visual components by employing systematic repetition of motifs.

Buren debuted with a significant solo exhibition at the Galleria Apollinaire in Milan in 1968. Subsequently, he has showcased his environmental installations on a global scale. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, his exhibitions spanned across Europe, America, and Japan.

He initiated the creation of unauthorized public art installations using striped awning canvas typically found in France. His endeavors commenced with the placement of numerous striped posters, known as "affichages sauvages," across Paris and later extended to over 100 Metro stations, attracting public attention. In June 1970, he further pushed boundaries by adorning the front and back of Los Angeles bus benches with stripes without seeking permission.

In his inaugural solo exhibition in New York City in 1973, Buren hung a series of nineteen black and white striped canvas squares from a cable stretching across the John Weber Gallery. The cable extended from one end of the gallery to the other, traversing out the window to a building on the opposite side of West Broadway before looping back.

Starting from 1960, Buren embarked on crafting several permanent site-specific installations across the United States, Belgium, France, and Germany. Transitioning into the 1990s, Buren's artistic focus shifted towards a more architectural approach. He began fashioning new spatial experiences within pre-existing environments, such as urban hubs, public green spaces, entire museum complexes, and even beaches.

Buren engaged in multiple collaborations with Hermès over the years. In 2014, he orchestrated an installation of mirrors and colored glass atop the Modernist architect Le Corbusier's Cité Radieuse building in Marseille. Then, in 2017, Buren achieved a milestone by unveiling his inaugural permanent installation in the United Kingdom.

Daniel Buren's Art Style

Buren has crafted artworks that challenge the conventional relationship between art and its surrounding structures throughout his career. In the early 1960s, he pioneered a radical form of Conceptual Art, which he termed a "degree zero of painting," exploring the economy of means and the interplay between support and medium.

Since 1965, his iconic 8.7cm-wide vertical stripes have served as the focal point for investigations into the essence of painting, its presentation, and the broader context of the artist's physical and social environment.

Buren's interventions are site-specific, blending and transforming the spaces they inhabit. They serve as critical tools, prompting viewers to reconsider how they perceive and engage with space, exploring themes of appropriation, and revealing the social and physical nature of the environment. In Buren's art, life intertwines with artistic expression, fostering a dialogue where autonomous art reconnects with lived experiences.