EXHIBITED:
The Exhibition of International Sculpture Master: Arman, Modern Art Gallery, Taichung, 1996

ILLUSTRATED:
The Exhibition of International Sculpture Master: Arman , Modern Art Gallery, Taichung, 1996, color illustrated, p. 17

This sculpture is to be sold with a certificate of authenticity signed by the artist, issued by Modern Art Gallery, Taichung.

ASCENDANT
ARMAN FERNANDEZ

French-American artist Arman was born in Nice, France in 1928, and is among the few artistic geniuses recognized by art history in his lifetime. Arman established his artistic style in his youth, and was immensely popular. In his celebrated artistic career, he won numerous awards, was knighted in 1991, and received the Legion of Honor in 1993.

Arman had vast lear ning experiences in his youth, which became the solid basis of his unrestrained imagination and boundless creativity in his later artistic career. From a young age, he was influenced by his father, an antique dealer, to learn oil painting and photography. After completing his studies in philosophy and mathematics, he continued his education in the École Nationale des Arts Decoratifs in Nice, as well as École du Louvre., where he majored in studied archeology and eastern art.

In 1954, inspired by the German Dadaists Kurt Schwitters’s exhibition, Arman began developing his own creative language, which involved cutting objects made of the same materials, then stacking them in large quantities to create a stunning effect. He named this technique “cachets.” This series of graphic works was unveiled at his third solo exhibition and was well-received. From 1959 to 1962, his creative language became more complex, developing into his most famous ideas: “accumulation” and “poubelle.” (French for ‘trash can’.) During this time, he and several other European young artists and art critics actively attempted conceptual art. In 1962, he created his first welded piece. In the 1960s, Arman started visiting New York and created large urban sculptures during this time. These pieces continued his concept of cutting and stacking. Things he cut range from household tools, watches, clocks, furniture, and car parts, to famous sculptures in art history, the most famous of which being the stacked musical instruments collection.

He cuts through familiar household items and consumer goods, take them apart, and reconfigures them, repeating over and over to create large volumes, giving them new meaning and strength. Arman’s fun yet meaningful style became his uniquely unmistakable artistic style. His works can be found in important plazas of many cities acr oss Europe and America.

“Ascendant” was created in 1992 - a continuation of the series Arman began in the 1970s: copper violins cut apart and stacked together. The violins are ‘dissected,’ by Arman, meticulously stacked and welded, like a sequence of cheerful tunes, lively and rhythmic. The intangible music is conveyed by the tangible shapes of the instruments. The movement and speed cr eated by the layers of violins is stunning and corr esponds with the concept of speed celebrated by Dadaists.