“Figuration Libre” recounts the episodes of a story from the beginning of the decade, of a moment of political and social thaw, of festivity and fun; it bears…
“Figuration Libre” recounts the episodes of a story from the beginning of the decade, of a moment of political and social thaw, of festivity and fun; it bears witness to a non-academic production, provocative, vital, energetic, impulsive… that refuses theory, organised groups, manifestos and norms. In France, Ben gave a name to this freedom, “Figuration Libre”, and a declaration: “Free from what? / Free to make ugly / Free to make dirty / Free to prefer the New York subway graffiti to the paintings of the Guggenheim / Free to have an indigestion of Supports/Surfaces / Free to say “Ben's linear history of art, I don't give a damn!” / Free to prefer spending the night in a nightclub to listening to Sollers / Free to feel like redoing Matisse, Picasso, Bonnard / Free to sing “Maréchal nous voilà” or “Viens Poupoule, viens” / Free to love Mickey and comic books, and not Lacan / Free not to care if someone tells you: you're copying / Free to say: “Carpaccio, never heard of him!” / Free to sell for money / Free to paint his cock in action / Free to paint on anything.” Ben, Figuration Libre, 1982. View of the group exhibition Figuration Libre, 2018, Galerie Eva Vautier Photo © François Fernandez Figuration Libre is an art born of popular culture: of the street, of the urban environment, of clubs as much as of studios, and rarely of schools. A rock and punk art. It distances itself from minimal art, from the conceptual art of language, of discourse, of process, from Arte Povera or the Supports-Surfaces of the preceding decades. Ten years of ebullition and exchanges followed with the “Figuration Libre”: the collectives and media painters in France, the Nouveaux Sauvages in Germany, the Nouveaux Artistes in Russia, graffiti in the USA… Their shared culture means that they exhibit together or in the same galleries, and make works and music together. In France, the label “Figuration Libre”, very open at first, refocused around a group formed by Rémi Blanchard, François Boisrond, Robert Combas and Hervé Di Rosa, extended to their closest associates: Richard (Buddy) Di Rosa and Louis Jammes. Catherine Viollet exhibited with them from the outset and made works together with them, their portraits, without their collaboration being anchored in time. Within the same current are those whom Ben calls the “satellites”: himself in Nice, Philippe Hortala in Toulouse, Mission Totale in Monaco. Richard (Buddy) Di Rosa recalls: “The group of friends that we were was considered the bearer of a new movement; and it's true that the art world needed to recognise itself in something new, unexpected, provocative.” Pascale Le Thorel, extract, “Libres Figurations années 80”, Exhibition catalogue, Fonds Hélène et Edouard Leclerc pour la Culture
