Buren not only takes pictures of his works as a tool to remind that the event happened, but also wanted to document himself in them as well to document the stage of life he is in.

Buren did not believe that art needed to be in a gallery to be appreciated as art. In light of this, he put his striped posters all over cities billboards and outside of various galleries illegally. His rebelious nature and iconic stripes caused controversy all over the world.

Buren was not invited to participate in exhibition “When attitudes become form” in Bern, Switzerland so he added his artwork all over the city covering billboards with his stripes. In 1969 he was arrested for covering billboards and asked to leave Switzerland.

Guggenheim museum removed one of his works the night before the opening because other artists said his work had a negative impact on theirs. Peinture-Sculpture (Painting-Sculpture), 1971

He blocked the entrance of the Apollinaire Gallery in Milan with his striped paper, closing down the gallery in 1968. As his first solo exhibition, Buren glued this green and white stripe paper on the doors of the gallery to open up questions of if the gallery is the only place that art can inhabit. Buren pictured on the left.

Los Angeles bus benches and station with Buren’s striped posters

Hermes scarves made of silk have become one of the world’s most recognizable accessories. With a collarboration of Hermes and Buren, Buren had the idea of printing his “photo-souvenirs” onto scarves. Burens photo souvenirs are collections of his photographs of his own work and of his travels all over the world, with emphasis that photos are mere reminders of an event or environment and not a representation of it. Twenty-two of his photos were selected including imagery of his own work, a flag-lined street, a fragment of architecture, geometric shapes, a fishing port, a sunset, flowers, and a Baroque dome. These photos are framed by Buren’s iconic 8.7cm wide alternating stripes of multiple colors. With the 22 photos and color options including sky blue, dark blue, yellow, black, orange, pink, red, green and purple for the stripes, 365 original and unique scarves were created. In order to transfer these images onto silk, they had to use ink-jet printing which allowed for more colors to be used than the original printing techniques. The stripes surrounding each photo-souvenir are a “visual tool” to create a connection by focusing into the image, but all creating a difference of context that make each scarf have its own contextual meaning. This framing technique is seen throughout Buren’s works, as his stripes can be used as a “view-finder” or “telescope” to direct the viewer into a specific perspective.

Available for purchase: €5,000.00 or $5,274.00

______

Link to video:

http://editeur-en.hermes.com/editions/h2-daniel-buren/photos-souvenirs-au-carre-2.html#

Paris Fashion Week 2013
The Louvre-Paris, France

The Spring/Summer 2013 Collection of Louis Vuitton (with Marc Jacobs as the creative head) at Paris Fashion Week was a collaboration with Daniel Buren. Marc Jacobs, a top name in the fashion industry was inspired by Buren and his Les Deux Plateux installation in Paris. He sought out Buren to thank him for his work that inspired his Spring/Summer collection for Louis Vuitton, and after talking Buren became involved in the upcoming runway show at the Louvre for Paris Fashion Week. Buren received full creative freedom, and with the enabling of Jacobs treated the set of the runway show as a site-specific installation. Four escalators were installed in the center courtyard of the Louvre, with white and yellow iconic Buren stripes on the stairs. The floors alternated with white and yellow checkerboard designs, which reflects Louis Vuitton’s iconic checkered design as well as clear inspiration from Buren’s aesthetic. This flawlessly fit with Jacobs collection for Louis Vuitton, creating a clear juxtaposition of the set and the clothing. With such a successful collaboration, after the show Buren continued to work with Louis Vuitton and Jacobs and helped with the advertising campaign and storefronts for Louis Vuitton.

These are all examples of Burens own photography of his own works. Buren’s site-specific works create an event contingent on the context and environment around it. This also created a non-permanancy of his works as when they could only exist in a specific site for so long. Buren documents his works through photography, calling each documentation a “photo-souvenir”. The photo is merely a souvenir because its a single perspective of an occurrence. His photos are approximations of the actual event that was left, leaving behind a a fragment of what was actually there. He claims these photos are not meant to be copies of what was, but rather tools used to remind.

Comme Un Jeu d’Enfant-2014
Kamel Mennour-2015
Comme Un Jeu d’Enfant-2014
Peinture-Sculpture-1971
From Three Windows, 2006
Allegro Vivace-2011
Within and Beyond the Frame-1973
De l’Azur au Temple du Ciel, travail in situ, Temple du Ciel, Pékin, 2004
Cerchi nell’aqua, 2004