Daniel Buren in 5 key words

The signature concept: How can a space be revealed? Daniel Buren has been exploring this question since his earliest work. Far from leaving it unanswered, the artist has placed it at the heart of his creative process. Since 1965, he has worked on the interplay between his art and the spaces it occupies. To this end, he works in situ, instead of in a studio. The artist creates his pieces within their host environment. At every step, his creations transform the surface they inhabit. They change its contours, offering a fresh look, different points of view and new perspectives, reshaping the space through the use of volumes, colours, and a play of contrast and light.

Its place at Le Bon Marché: The exhibition unveils huge in situ artworks in different areas of the department store. On the outside of the building, the artist has taken a minimalist approach with the store windows, backlighting them from the inside. Under the central glass roofs of Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche, Daniel Buren has suspended an array of polycarbonate squares, white on one side and pink on the other, arranged in staggered rows – like a checkerboard – alluding to the panes of the historic glass roofs. Finally, on the second floor, visitors can explore the Cabanes éclatées, or ‘Exploded Cabins’, one yellow and one blue, which are among the artist’s most iconic constructions.

A word from the artist: « This « motif » is the result of applying one of the oldest and most constant principles in my work: matching a solid with a space. »

Photo-souvenir

Daniel Buren

Zick-Zack-Fries für eine Fassade. Fünf Farben, weisse und transparente Streifen, work in situ

Neues Museum, Nuremberg, October 2009

© DB-ADAGP Paris, 2024 

The signature concept : Whether it flows from the outside world, from reflective elements or from natural light sources, light is an integral part of Daniel Buren’s work. He harnesses it to create new effects. This painstaking use of light provides a new way of reading both the space and the artwork.

Its place at Le Bon Marché : The artist has entrusted the lighting of his work to lighting designer Madjid Hakimi, with whom he collaborated at the Opéra Bastille in Paris to create the stage design for the ballet Daphnis et Chloé by Benjamin Millepied, set to music by Maurice Ravel.

A word from the artist : “At Le Bon Marché, lighting design is key to the perception of the work in situ.”

Photo-souvenir

Daniel Buren

Stage design - artwork in situ for « Daphnis et Chloé », Ravel / Millepied

Opéra Bastille, Paris, May 2014

Photo credits: © Agathe Poupeney – OnP

© DB-ADAGP Paris, 2024 

The signature concept : This concept stems from a sudden realisation that Daniel Buren had at the Marché Saint-Pierre in Paris, while he was buying fabrics made up of regular stripes. Since then, the artist, who has renamed this motif “visual tool”, has made it an unchanging element in his art, while re-establishing the importance of repetition. The vertical stripes, alternating between white and colour, are always 8.7 centimetres wide. Daniel Buren builds his pieces around this tool, in work ranging from painting and sculpture to architecture.

Its place at Le Bon Marché : This visual tool engages with the department store’s key architectural aspects. It refreshes the criss-crossed escalators, highlights oblique lines and marks the axis separating each of the pieces built under the two glass roofs. Daniel Buren also applies it to different types of support, such as the columns on rue de Sèvres.

A word from the artist : “Firstly, the visual tool marks the sudden appearance of the artwork in a given place, while linking this work to a sense of production by alluding to other similar presentations (...). Finally, it serves to interact with the space itself: its functions, its uses, its qualities.”

Photo-souvenir

Daniel Buren

Painting-Sculpture, work in situ at the « Sixth Guggenheim International Exhibition », Solomon R.

Guggenheim Museum, New York, February 1971

Work censured before the opening of the exhibition

© DB-ADAGP Paris, 2024 

The signature concept : Daniel Buren has created work in which colours play a prominent role. Without reflecting personal taste, shades are chosen for their intrinsic qualities.

Its place at Le Bon Marché : Inside the store, artworks are placed separately according to the alphabetical order of their names in French : white (blanc) and pink (rose) under the glass roofs, blue and yellow for the Cabanes éclatées. The artist has used a brand new colour matching system for the windows on rue de Sèvres. He has chosen, completely at random, a selection of dark colours ranging from dark blue to purple and brown for his squares. These colours alternate with white squares, creating a powerful contrast.

A word from the artist : « The colour outside, the colour of the sun that surrounds us, is what I think of as « real » colour. »

Photo-souvenir

Daniel Buren

Zick-Zack-Fries für eine Fassade. Fünf Farben, weisse und transparente Streifen, work in situ

Neues Museum, Nuremberg

October 2009

© DB-ADAGP Paris, 2024

The signature concept : Recurring elements in the work of Daniel Buren since 1975, the Cabanes éclatées (‘Exploded Cabins’) are colourful artworks that the artist invites visitors to walk through, while enjoying various perspectives.

Its place at Le Bon Marché : Installed on the second floor of the department store, the two cabins, made up of squares measuring around fifty by fifty centimetres, are blue and yellow. They offer an immersive experience, produced by a combination of colours, materials and mirrors reflecting the light.

A word from the artist : « Inside these cabins made of transparent and translucent panels, the public can wander through passages. The doors of the cabins will be « exploded », removed from their original positions and stuck to the reflective walls. »

Photo-souvenir

Daniel Buren

Color Transparency: Exploded Cabins 26A and 26B, work in situ

Kunsthalle Portikus, Frankfurt

November 1998

Photo Credits © Wolfgang Günzel

© DB-ADAGP Paris, 2024