Ben Vautier, a French Fluxus artist, has passed away at the age of 88. His funny paintings and performances blurred the lines between reality and art, inspiring both laughter and praise from critics. There are speculations that he must have died by suicide. His cause of death have not been confirmed during the time of this report. More information regarding how he died will be published shortly.
Who was Ben Vautier?
Vautier, who frequently went by the creative alias Ben, was discovered dead in his Nice home on Wednesday, a day and a half after his wife passed away from a stroke. His corpse was found with a gunshot wound, according to the Nice prosecutor’s office, which said it would launch an inquiry to find out why.
Ben and other artists connected to the Fluxus movement of the 1960s aimed to obfuscate any distinctions between the sacred realm of art-making and the ordinary. He was successful in this endeavor, producing works of art that occasionally included the debris of everyday life, assisting in reorienting the field of art during a period when the establishment still favored lofty abstract paintings.
Throughout his six-decade career, he repeatedly scribbled the adage “Everything is art” in paint, although in several versions. This saying is what makes him most remembered. However, he also enjoyed constructing paradoxes, and occasionally he would purposefully contradict himself in other pieces of literature and art.
Summary
Le magasin de Ben (1958–1973), an installation that began as a working Nice store, is one of his most well-known works. Ben referred to what started off as a record and camera store as a “total art center,” where an abundance of wheels, hats, and trinkets were hanging from the walls and the artist’s handwritten slogans were written on them.
He will be truly missed his fellow patriots and family.
