BEN VAUTIER

Benjamin Vautier, known as Ben, was born on July 18, 1935, in Naples. A French artist of Swiss origin, he was influenced by Nouveau Réalisme, as well as the Fluxus and Lettrist movements. He rose to prominence in the 1960s with his iconic “writings”—provocative and philosophical phrases through which he explored themes such as ego, truth, death, and money.

Ben grew up in Nice, where in 1958 he opened a shop that soon became a hub for exhibitions and encounters with artists like César, Arman, and Martial Raysse. With these artists, he went on to form the École de Nice. His shop became so legendary that it was reconstructed by the Centre Pompidou in 1977.

In 1963, Ben joined the Fluxus group after meeting George Maciunas. Closely aligned with the ideas of Marcel Duchamp, he developed the concept of appropriation in art, signing anything he encountered—including everyday objects and even people. For Ben, artistic value lay in the intention behind the gesture.

In the 1980s, after spending a year in Berlin, Ben supported the emergence of a new movement reacting against the dominance of abstraction in contemporary art. Artists like Robert Combas and Hervé Di Rosa were among its early members. The idea of calling the movement “Figuration Libre” came to Ben while he was exhibiting his friends’ work.

On June 5, 2024, Ben took his own life just hours after the death of his wife. He leaves behind a powerful and influential body of work, with his creations housed in major modern and contemporary art collections around the world, including the MoMA in New York and the Musée National d’Art Moderne in Paris.