Art Basel 2018
14 June17 June 2018

Views

CLOSE

Text

Olivier Mosset: The Death of Painting – The Birth of the Circle

“The Death of Painting – The Birth of the Circle” traces the origins of the iconic “circle” paintings in this very first showing of examples of each of the first four surviving series of Olivier Mosset’s œuvre. The artist produced the circle series between 1966 and 1974 some of which were exhibited alongside the work of Buren, Parmentier and Toroni in the famous ‘BMPT’ exhibitions of 1967. The circle sign is generally assumed to have been created in Paris together with BMPT, yet in fact Mosset was already painting 1m x 1m circles in 1966.These early works establish that the circle found its source during the 2 years that preceded its creation.Mosset started working in series from the very beginning onwards. This characteristic is to be found throughout his entire career.

In 1962, Mosset saw a Rauschenberg and Johns exhibition in Bern and reports having been very impressed. Around this time, he was Tinguely’s assistant in Paris. He had met Duchamp and was interested in Allan Kaprow’s installations. By 1964 he was aware of Stella’s “Black Paintings” and of Warhol’s repetitions.

The show starts with “kôAN VII”.

LOAD MORE +