Claude Viallat, born in 1936 in Nimes, France, is a representative artist of “Supports/Surfaces,” an art movement in the late ’60s in France. At that time they questioned anew the fixed concept or systematic side of painting and its accoutrements, asking, for example, why only canvases, wooden frames, and paint itself... Experimentation led Viallat him to establish the typical way in which he paints a consecutive pattern such as bean shapes, using vivid colors on a variety of fabrics, tents, parasols, curtains, awnings and so on.
In this exhibition, some 15 works from the ’70s and ’80s gathered from our collection, including a large one more than 4 meters long and a small one of paints in the shape of beans, will be on display but, separated into two periods, one from January 23rd to February 17th, the other from February 27th to March 31st.
The paintings, despite having been produced more than 30 years ago, retain their vivid impact and inspire a sense of awe that Viallat, at that time, was able to bring out such a new expression.