Seeing stripes: Daniel Buren shows ten early works at New York’s Nahmad Contemporary

Daniel Buren’s ’Origin of Stripes
Daniel Buren’s ’Origin of Stripes: Paintings from 1965–1966’ illustrates the early evolution of the artist’s distinctly colourful practice. Pictured: Photo-souvenir: Peinture acrylique blanche sur tissu rayé blanc et vert, 1966.
(Image credit: courtesy the artist and Bortolami)
By Carly Ayres
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Visitors to Nahmad Contemporary this month will be seeing stripes – and lots of them – as the gallery presents 'Origin of Stripes: Paintings from 1965­–1966', a collection of paintings by artist Daniel Buren.

Featuring ten early works by the French artist, the show marks the first display of some of the pieces in the United States – works that illustrate the evolution of the artist’s distinctly colourful practice.

Widely known for his site-specific installations, Buren here shares his painterly origins, the artist’s handmade stripes of enamel paint pulled along cotton canvas bedsheets.

The pieces depict the clear lineage of the artist’s later works – large-scale installations that play with bright, contrasting coloured stripes applied to surfaces and spaces. These formative works paved the way for much of the artist’s later practice, and show the visual foundation of a career that spans over 50 years.

With each of the ten paintings on display, the artist’s hand slowly disappears, visualising Buren’s creative progression. Irregular, meandering lines become standardised vertical bands as he moves from hand-painted stripes to mass-produced textiles, eventually abandoning the canvas entirely.

In the exhibition's final pieces, even the medium of paint itself is sequestered to the edges, as Buren fully adopts the mechanical perfection of machine-made stripes – a foreshadowing of what was to come.

Variable Forms Painting, 1966

Featuring ten early works by the French artist, the show marks the first display of the pieces in the United States. Pictured: Photo-souvenir: Variable Forms Painting, 1966

(Image credit: courtesy the artist and Bortolami)

Photo-souvenir, enamel paint on cotton canvas, 1965

Buren here shares his painterly origins, the artist’s handmade stripes of enamel paint pulled along cotton canvas bedsheets. Pictured: Photo-souvenir, enamel paint on cotton canvas, 1965

(Image credit: courtesy the artist and Bortolami)

Photo-souvenir, enamel paint on cotton canvas, 1965

These formative works paved the way for much of the artist’s later practice, and show the visual foundation of a career that spans over 50 years. Pictured: Photo-souvenir, enamel paint on cotton canvas, 1965

(Image credit: courtesy the artist and Bortolami)

-souvenir, enamel paint on canvas, 1965

With each of the ten paintings on display, the artist’s hand slowly disappears, visualising Buren’s creative progression. Pictured: Photo-souvenir, enamel paint on canvas, 1965

(Image credit: courtesy the artist and Bortolami)

NFORMATION

’Origin of Stripes: Paintings from 1965–1966’ is on view until 22 October. For more information, visit the Nahmad Contemporary website

Photography courtesy the artist and Bortolami

ADDRESS

Nahmad Contemporary
980 Madison Avenue, Third Floor
New York, NY 10075

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Carly Ayres
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