French artist Daniel Buren created his own lexicon to "redefine art" and to help "further understand" his work. According to the press release for his current exhibit To Cut Out: Situated Works 1969-2009 at Bortolami Gallery, some of the terms he coined include:
Work in situ- “denotes a work made for a particular site, for a particular time and exhibited in this particular site, and therefore not transportable to another place.”
Situated work- “a work for the most part inspired by a particular location, but made with the intention that the very same elements of the original work can be reinstalled in different sites following a series of rules, changing each time in response to the given place. In turn, the site is changed by the work.”
Cabane éclatée (‘exploded cabin’)- "begun in 1975, painting environments that have been 'exploded,' turning a would-be two dimensional work into a disparate three-dimensional encounter."
Visual tool- "the sign of white and color alternating in stripes of exactly 8.7 cm. in width, as derived from the fabric he first used as a canvas in 1965. This functions as a tool in Buren’s work, as a standard or unit of measure of formal properties."
Some of these elements can be found in Buren's "situated works" on view at Bortolami. The large, primary-colored wall hangings are made of MDF (medium-density fiberboard), Alupanel (aluminium composite panel), vinyl and white paint. The works "in five parts" are each composed of five separate pieces made of triangles and diamond-shapes that create a repeating pattern in a primary color. Cut-out: Jet black box on jet black wall covers an entire wall in large, shiny black panels and then places a shiny black box at its the center.
The works remind me of giant, shiny versions of colorful, children's building blocks. While the pieces are big, bold and graphic, I wish Buren would have provided an explanation (What do they mean/represent? What is their purpose?...) for them along with his list of fancy terms to describe them. Learn more at Bortolamigallery.com. Through December 22nd.
Cut-out situated work in five parts, blue (left), green (right), 2009
Cut-out situated work in five parts, jet black (left), light ivory (center), traffic red (right), 2009
Cut-out situated work in five parts, light ivory (left), traffic red (center), traffic yellow (right), 2009
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