Skip to main content

Ben Vautier Sculptures

French, 1935-2024

Benjamin Vautier was born in 1935, in Naples, Italy, to a French family. He was the great-grandson of the Swiss painter Marc Louis Benjamin Vautier (1829–98). He discovered Yves Klein and the Nouveau Réalisme in the 1950s, but he quickly became interested in the French Dada artist Marcel Duchamp and the music of John Cage. 

In 1959, Vautier founded the journal Ben Dieu. In 1960, he had his first one-man show, Rien et tout in Laboratoire 32.

Vautier joined George Maciunas in the Fluxus artistic movement, in October 1962. He was also active in Mail-Art and was mostly known for his text-based paintings or écritures, which began in 1953, with his work Il faut manger. Il faut dormir. Another example of the latter is L'art est inutile. Rentrez chez vous (Art is Useless, Go Home). A notable work made for Harald Szeemann's Documenta 5 exhibition in 1972 shouts, “KUNST IST ÜBERFLÜSSIG” (English: "Art is Superfluous"), and was installed across the top of the Fridericianum museum in Kassel, Germany. 

Vautier long defended the rights of minorities in all countries and was influenced by the theories of François Fontan about ethnism. For example, he defended the Occitan language (southern France). In 1981, he coined the name of the French art movement of the 1980s Figuration Libre (Free Figuration).

Find Benjamin Vautier art on 1stDibs.

(Biography provided by Gallery 55 TLV)

to
1
Overall Width
to
Overall Height
to
1
1
1
1
5
213
184
159
132
1
Artist: Ben Vautier
"Mystery Box (Boîte mystère)" Ben Vautier, Fluxus Movement Conceptual Sculpture
By Ben Vautier
Located in New York, NY
Ben Vautier Mystery Box (Boîte mystère), 1965 Painted wood with letterpress label 3 13/16 × 2 3/4 × 2 7/16 inches Ben Vautier was a French artist known for his text-based paintings...
Category

1960s Conceptual Ben Vautier Sculptures

Materials

Wood, Paper

Related Items
Sculpture, abstract record player: 'Kristallo'
By Kelly Bugden + Van Wifvat
Located in New York, NY
The artistic collaboration of Kelly Bugden + Van Wifvat has produced a thought-provoking body of sculptures, paintings, and constructions. Nature, childhood memories, and everyday ar...
Category

2010s Conceptual Ben Vautier Sculptures

Materials

Brass, Steel

Fritz Horstman, Formwork for the East River, 2017, Wood, Latex Paint, Wood Panel
By Fritz Horstman
Located in Darien, CT
While working on a large building project several years ago the artist, Fritz Horstman was struck by the poetry in the unfinished state of the construction site. He was drawn specifically to the space between the plywood walls that were raised as formworks for the pouring of cement. That space could only exist for a few hours before the cement truck arrived, but in that moment it was a revolving abstraction of potential, delineation, growth, and destruction. Once filled it was gone: the plywood was stripped away, the earth was backfilled. To suspend that moment he began building models of formworks. Leaving them unfilled, they are perpetually unfinished. From models based directly on architecture, Horstman expanded to forms found in the landscape. Making a formwork that depicts constraint upon the landscape is not exactly a reversal of the formwork’s function, but it asks different questions than a formwork designed for a building would. Why would you make a cement creek? What is the relationship between a flowing creek and poured cement? Is this a barrier or just delineation? For River Woman ODETTA, in addition to several small sculptures in the Flat File, Horstman will install Formwork for the East River, which describes that river’s shape as it flows from Rikers Island to the tip of Manhattan. The 3 x 18 x 7 foot sculpture...
Category

2010s Conceptual Ben Vautier Sculptures

Materials

Wood, Latex, Wood Panel

Child's Play (I and II)
By Dianne Baker
Located in Buffalo, NY
Each of the works is 14" x 16" x 1". They are meant to be hung together either vertically or horizontally. Diane Baker is a mixed media and fiber-related sculptor working out o...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Conceptual Ben Vautier Sculptures

Materials

Metal

Child's Play (I and II)
Child's Play (I and II)
$1,000
H 14 in W 16 in D 1 in
Gil Scullion, You First, 2017, 20 sheets of stacked hand-cut paper
By Gil Scullion
Located in Darien, CT
Where do we come from? Where are we going? What the hell is going on here? 2017-2018 Hand cut paper in wood box Gil Scullion’s conceptual text-based work has been featured in exhibi...
Category

2010s Conceptual Ben Vautier Sculptures

Materials

Paper

Gil Scullion, You Forget, 2017, 20 sheets of stacked hand-cut paper
By Gil Scullion
Located in Darien, CT
Where do we come from? Where are we going? What the hell is going on here? 2017-2018 Hand cut paper in wood box Gil Scullion’s conceptual text-based work has been featured in exhibi...
Category

2010s Conceptual Ben Vautier Sculptures

Materials

Paper

MIxed Media Conceptual Art Sculpture Drawing Human Rights Welded Iron
By Francoise Schein
Located in Surfside, FL
This is a large sculpture and also includes an artist custom framed silkscreen with extensive handwork titled Line of Time, pencil signed and inscribed, presented in heavy metal and wooden frame (framed piece 24.5 x 30 in., sculpture piece is about 94 X 11 inches) Francoise Schein is a visual artist, trained as an architect - urban planner; She also teaches art at the ESAM Higher School of Arts and Media in Caen in Normandy . She is the founder of the INSCRIRE Association. In 2016, she was elected member of the Royal Academy of Sciences, Arts and Fine Arts of Belgium. Group Exhibitions Spain: 2016, The "5Contemporary" Paris gallery presented a group show at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Genalguacil, Spain. The show included important artists such as Françoise Schein, Mimouni and Pedro Castrortega. Born in Brussels , Françoise Schein left Belgium after studying architecture at the higher institute of architecture of the French community - La Cambre where she wrote her thesis on fundamental rights, then studied urban design at the Columbia University in the City of New York . She lived 11 years in New York where she begins a work on cartography territories. Subway map Floating on NY Sidewalk is his first monumental urban sculpture located at 110 Greene Street in SoHo (1985). At that time her works are abstract landscapes of cities, made up of networks, lines, trajectories, territories, founding texts and stories. They are constructed of very diverse materials and light. Returning back to Europe in 1989, she continues to work on what she calls her drawings-laboratories while beginning to integrate works in cities on civic themes, the main ones: at the Concorde metro station in Paris in 1991 and then in Brussels, Saint-Gilles , in 1992, these two projects took her to Lisbon in 1993 where she lived for five years and produced two monumental works (in azulejos) for the city of Lisbon at Parque metro station ( 1994) and another for the city of Stockholm at the Universitetet station (1998). She continues to travel to cities where she builds successively projects in Haifa , on the facade of the Beth Hagefen Jewish-Arab Cultural Center with Michel Butor (1994). Then she lives in Berlin where she builds the Westhafen station (2000) which takes her to Bremen to make her first human rights park, Rhododendronpark (2002). In 2005, she made the monumental Time Zone Clock in Coventry in 2005. Since 1999, she has also settled in Rio de Janeiro and initiated participatory artistic projects with the underprivileged population of the favelas . Since then, with the help of a locally trained team, many projects have been carried out, including one in Copacabana and more than 20 in different favelas (from 1999 to 2016). These works transformed the Rio workshop into sustainable development for the people who invested it. In Sao Paulo, since 2009, Françoise Schein has produced a monumental work with the participation of 1000 young people from the favela schools at Luz subway station. Her work is monumental recalling the works of Christo, Maria Dompe, Christian Boltanski, Anish Kapoor, Ai Wei Wei...
Category

Late 20th Century Conceptual Ben Vautier Sculptures

Materials

Iron

Gil Scullion, Your Convictions, 2017, 20 sheets of stacked hand-cut paper
By Gil Scullion
Located in Darien, CT
Where do we come from? Where are we going? What the hell is going on here? 2017-2018 Hand cut paper in wood box Gil Scullion’s conceptual text-based work has been featured in exhibi...
Category

2010s Conceptual Ben Vautier Sculptures

Materials

Paper

Chimera Bad
By Niki Singleton
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Acrylic, oil, paper collage, car side mirror, branches, chimes, rag, clock radio (Instructions: Press “on” button on side of radio to turn on. Tune to suitable station) A pa...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Conceptual Ben Vautier Sculptures

Materials

Acrylic, Mirror, Mixed Media, Oil, Rag Paper

Chimera Bad
Chimera Bad
$4,800
H 32 in W 26 in D 16 in
Gil Scullion, Your Existence, 2017, 20 sheets of stacked hand-cut paper
By Gil Scullion
Located in Darien, CT
Where do we come from? Where are we going? What the hell is going on here? 2017-2018 Hand cut paper in wood box Gil Scullion’s conceptual text-based work has been featured in exhibi...
Category

2010s Conceptual Ben Vautier Sculptures

Materials

Paper

Gil Scullion, You Get, 2017, 20 sheets of stacked hand_cut paper
By Gil Scullion
Located in Darien, CT
Where do we come from? Where are we going? What the hell is going on here? 2017-2018 Hand cut paper in wood box Gil Scullion’s conceptual text-based work has been featured in exhibi...
Category

2010s Conceptual Ben Vautier Sculptures

Materials

Paper

Gil Scullion, You Walk, 2017, 20 sheets stacked hand-cut paper
By Gil Scullion
Located in Darien, CT
Where do we come from? Where are we going? What the hell is going on here? 2017-2018 Hand cut paper in wood box Gil Scullion’s conceptual text-based work has been featured in exhibi...
Category

2010s Conceptual Ben Vautier Sculptures

Materials

Paper

Gil Scullion, You Need, 2017, 20 sheets of stacked hand-cut paper
By Gil Scullion
Located in Darien, CT
Where do we come from? Where are we going? What the hell is going on here? 2017-2018 Hand cut paper in wood box Gil Scullion’s conceptual text-based work has been featured in exhibi...
Category

2010s Conceptual Ben Vautier Sculptures

Materials

Paper

Ben Vautier sculptures for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Ben Vautier sculptures available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Ben Vautier in paper, wood and more. Not every interior allows for large Ben Vautier sculptures, so small editions measuring 3 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Dianne Baker, Gil Scullion, and Kojun. Ben Vautier sculptures prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $1,000 and tops out at $1,000, while the average work can sell for $1,000.

Recently Viewed

View All