Ben s’autorise tous les possibles. Selon son adage préféré, « tout est art ». Dans la lignée de Marcel Duchamp et de ses ready-mades, toute personne qui veut se considérer comme un artiste peut transformer n’importe quel objet en art par la seule apposition de sa signature. Ben va donc signer tout ce qu’il trouve ! Le mouvement Fluxus se développe en France dans la région de Nice avec Ben et son « Magasin ». Il devient rapidement le lieu de rencontre et d’exposition où se retrouve les principaux membres de ce qui deviendra l’Ecole de Nice avec César, Arman, Martial Raysse... Picturalement si, au départ, Ben expérimente toutes sortes de tentatives à la «recherche des formes », accordant à la banane un statut privilégié, les premiers mots d’une écriture blanche et bouclée sur fond noir apparaissent dès la fin des années 1950 et s’affirment dès lors comme le signe distinctif de son travail. Chaque phrase, aussi brève soit-elle, recèle un immense potentiel de questions capitales sur le monde qui l’entoure, la vérité dans l’art ou encore la religion. Il dépose son nom sur de nombreux produits dérivés, inondant le monde quotidien de son empreinte et poursuivant, par là même, son entreprise égotique sans limite.
Ben allows himself any possibility. According to his favorite quote, "everything is art". In the continuity of Marcel Duchamp and his ready-mades, any person who wants to consider themself an artist can transform any object into art by simply stamping their signature on it. Ben will sign anything he finds! The Fluxus movement developed in France in the Nice area with Ben and his "Magasin" (Shop). It quickly became the place for reunions and exhibitions where the principal members of what will become the School of Nice with César, Arman, Martial Raysse... Pictorially if, at the beginning, Ben experimented with all kinds of attempts at "research of the forms", granting the banana a privileged status, the first words of a white and curly cursive writing on black background appeared at the end of the 1950s and from then on became his trademark. Each sentence, as brief as it is, holds an enormous potential of capital questions on the world surrounding it, the truth in art or in religion. He puts his name on numerous products of merchandise, flooding the everyday world with his imprint and thereby pursuing his limitless egotic endeavor.
Ben allows himself any possibility. According to his favorite quote, "everything is art". In the continuity of Marcel Duchamp and his ready-mades, any person who wants to consider themself an artist can transform any object into art by simply stamping their signature on it. Ben will sign anything he finds! The Fluxus movement developed in France in the Nice area with Ben and his "Magasin" (Shop). It quickly became the place for reunions and exhibitions where the principal members of what will become the School of Nice with César, Arman, Martial Raysse... Pictorially if, at the beginning, Ben experimented with all kinds of attempts at "research of the forms", granting the banana a privileged status, the first words of a white and curly cursive writing on black background appeared at the end of the 1950s and from then on became his trademark. Each sentence, as brief as it is, holds an enormous potential of capital questions on the world surrounding it, the truth in art or in religion. He puts his name on numerous products of merchandise, flooding the everyday world with his imprint and thereby pursuing his limitless egotic endeavor.