o.T. (Violinbögen), 1968

About the Work

The violin bows assembled here look like grass in the wind. A close look reveals that they are of different makes and have been fixed upright and side by side in a Perspex case. Arranged in this way, the bows lose their effect as individual items, and an abstract structure is created which transforms the three-dimensional object into a panel painting. The collection and presentation of similar yet unique objects is the principle behind Arman's 'accumulations'. The objects come from ordinary set pieces from our living environment. Arman is one of the artists of Nouveau Réalisme, who from 1960 onwards prescribed a 'new approach to reality'.