Gothic, 1977

In his career as an artist, Armand Fernandez has become internationally known as Arman. He decided to sign his artworks with just his first name and then removed the final letter after a 1958 printing error. His work was always influenced by the Dada movement and he was later to make an impact on the Pop Art movement. Fernandez / Arman studied art history at the Louvre in Paris and attended the National School of Decorative Arts in Nice. He began by creating abstract paintings and also made use of found objects, fabric pieces and postage stamps. These assemblages were displayed together in 1954 at his first solo show in Paris. In 1960 he signed up to the New Realism manifesto and began to focus on more ways to turn commonplace discarded objects into art. His exhibition at the Iris Clert Gallery in 1960 was an installation called Full Up, which filled all the gallery space with trash. Another technique involved breaking up manufactured objects to mount on wood panels after reassembling. He also displayed familiar objects that had been sliced up and he exhibited the burnt remains of items that he had set on fire. His strategy of piling a number of found objects on top of each other led to art commissions from the Renault car company. In 1970 he displayed a number of works made from car parts at the World Fair in Osaka. In 1982 he created Long Term Parking, a monumental public sculpture 50 feet high, made from cars encased in a column of concrete. He received a commission in 1995 from the Lebanese leader to create a peace monument for Beirut. Hope for Peace, which stands outside the headquarters of the Lebanese Army, is made from armored tanks and military vehicles with gun barrels pointing upwards. (Artist website)