Etant donnés by Marcel Duchamp (1946 - 1966)

Duchamp's final major art work surprised the art world that believed he had given up art for chess 25 years earlier. Entitled Etant donnés: 1° la chute d'eau / 2° le gaz d'éclairage ("Given: 1. The Waterfall, 2. The Illuminating Gas"), it is a tableau, visible only through a peep hole in a wooden door.A nude woman can be seen lying on her back with her face hidden, legs spread, and one hand holding a gas lamp in the air against a landscape backdrop.
Duchamp had worked secretly on the piece from 1946 to 1966 in his Greenwich Village studio while even his closest friends thought he had abandoned art.

Fountain by Marcel Duchamp (1917)

The most prominent example of Duchamp's association with Dada was his submission of Fountain, a urinal, to the Society of Independent Artists exhibit in 1917. Artworks in the Independent Artists shows were not selected by jury, and all pieces submitted were displayed. However, the show committee insisted that Fountain was not art, and rejected it from the show. This caused an uproar amongst the Dadaists, and led Duchamp to resign from the board of the Independent Artists.

Along with Henri-Pierre Roché and Beatrice Wood, Duchamp published a Dada magazine in New York, entitled The Blind Man, which included art, literature, humor and commentary.

When he returned to Paris after World War I, Duchamp did not participate in the Dada group.

Marcel Duchamp (1887 - 1968)

Marcel Duchamp was a French/American artist whose work is most often associated with the Dadaist and Surrealist movements. Duchamp's output influenced the development of post-World War I Western art. He advised modern art collectors, such as Peggy Guggenheim and other prominent figures, thereby helping to shape the tastes of Western art during this period.

A playful man, Duchamp challenged conventional thought about artistic processes and art marketing, not so much by writing, but through subversive actions such as dubbing a urinal "art" and naming it Fountain. He produced relatively few artworks, while moving quickly through the avant-garde circles of his time.

The creative act is not performed by the artist alone; the spectator brings the work in contact with the external world by deciphering and interpreting its inner qualifications and thus adds his contribution to the creative act.

Xavier Veilhan - Versailles

From september 2009 till december 2009

You can discover his method to work here.

Xavier Veilhan - Automatic sculpture (2006)

He scans in 3D people and objects and uses robotic to realize master pieces with different colors and sizes.

Xavier Veilhan

Xavier Veilhan (1963, Lyon) is a French artist who lives and works in Paris. His interdisciplinary oeuvre consists of photography, sculpture, film, painting and installation art.
Whether he uses digital photography, sculpture, public statuary, video, installations or even the art of the exhibition, Xavier Veilhan builds his work around the same axis: the possibilities of representation.

Here you have his official website.

Jeff Koons in Versailles

Exhibition of contemporary art in the most famous French castle
This unique event presents seventeen Jeff Koons' works.
From September 2008 till December 2009.

You can visit also the official website here.

Jeff Koons - Puppy

Puppy (Bilbao)

Jeff Koons - Rabbit

Rabbit in Naples (Italy, 2003)

Jeff Koons

Jeff Koons (born January 21, 1955) is an American artist known for his giant reproductions of banal objects such as balloon animals produced in stainless steel with mirror finish surfaces, often brightly colored. Koons' work has sold for substantial sums including at least one world record auction price for a work by a living artist. Critics are sharply divided in their views of Koons. Some view his work as pioneering and of major art-historical importance. Others dismiss his work as kitsch: crass and based on cynical self-merchandising. Koons himself has stated that there are no hidden meanings in his works.

You can visit his website here.

The Wall - 13 000 oil barrels (1999, Germany)

Christo and Jeanne-Claude have created an installation and premiere two exhibitions of documentation inside the Gasometer. It opened on May 1,1999 in Oberhausen, Germany. The works remained until mid-October 1999.

The Gasometer is one of the largest tank structures in the world. It was built in 1928 to store the gaseous by-products of iron ore processing. The Gasometer has recently been used as exhibit and event space. The round structure is 110 meter (360 feet) high by 68 meters (223 feet) in diameter.

The Umbrellas (1984-1991, Japan - USA)

At sunrise, on October 9th, 1991, Christo and Jeanne-Claude's 1,880 workers began to open the 3,100 umbrellas in Ibaraki and California, in the presence of the artists.

This Japan-USA temporary work of art reflected the similarities and differences in the ways of life and the use of the land in two inland valleys, one 19 kilometers (12miles) long in Japan, and the other 29 kilometers (18 miles) long in the USA.

In Japan, the valley is located north of Hitachiota and south of Satomi, 120 kilometers (75 miles) north of Tokyo, around Route 349 and the Sato River, in the Prefecture of Ibaraki, on the properties of 459 private landowners and governmental agencies.

In the U.S.A., the valley is located 96.5 kilometers (60 miles) north of Los Angeles, along Interstate 5 and the Tejon Pass, between south of Gorman and Grapevine, on the properties of Tejon Ranch, 25 private landowners as well as governmental agencies.

How man in Japan (blue): 1340
How many in USA (yellow): 1760

Wrapped Pont-Neuf (1975-1985, Paris)

The fabric was restrained by 13,076 meters (42,900 feet) of rope and secured by 12.1 metric tons (11.8 long tons) of steel chains encircling the base of each tower, 1 meter (3.3 feet ) underwater.

600 monitors, in crews of 40, lead by Simon Chaput, were working around the clock maintaining the project and giving information, until the removal of the project on October 7.


All expenses for The Pont Neuf Wrapped were borne by the artists as in their other projects through the sale of preparatory drawings and collages as well as earlier works.

Begun under Henri III, the Pont-Neuf was completed in July 1606, during the reign of Henry IV. No other bridge in Paris offers such topographical and visual variety, today as in the past. From 1578 to 1890, the Pont Neuf underwent continual changes and additions of the most extravagant sort, such as the construction of shops on the bridge under Soufflot, the building, demolition, rebuilding and once again demolition of the massive rococco structure which housed the Samaritaine's water pump. Wrapping the Pont-Neuf continues this tradition of successive metamorphoses by a new sculptural dimension and transforms it, for fourteen days, into a work of art .

Wrapped Reichstag (1971-1995, Berlin)

After a struggle spanning through the Seventies, Eighties and Nineties, the wrapping of the Reichstag was completed on June 24th, 1995 by a work force of 90 professional climbers and 120 installation workers. The Reichstag remained wrapped for 14 days and all materials were recycled.

Ten companies in Germany started in September 1994 to manufacture all the various
materials according to the specifications of the engineers. During the months of April, May and June 1995, iron workers installed the steel structures on the towers, the roof, the statues and the stone vases to allow the folds of fabric to cascade from the roof down to the ground.

100,000 square meters (1,076,000 square feet) of thick woven polypropylene fabric with an aluminum surface and 15,600 meters (51,181 feet) of blue polypropylene rope, diameter 3.2 cm. (1.25?), were used for the wrapping of the Reichstag. The façades, the towers and the roof were covered by 70 tailor-made fabric panels, twice as much fabric as the surface of the building.


The work of art was entirely financed by the artists, as have all their projects, through the sale of preparatory studies, drawings, collages, scale models as well as early works and original lithographs.

The artists do not accept sponsorship of any kind.

The Wrapped Reichstag represents not only 24 years of efforts in the lives of the artists but also years of team work by its leading members Michael S. Cullen, Wolfgang and Sylvia Volz, and Roland Specker.

Wrapped coast (1968-1969, Australia)

Little Bay, property of Prince Henry Hospital, is located 14.5 kilometers (9 miles), southeast of the center of Sydney.

The South Pacific Ocean cliff-lined shore area that was wrapped is approximately 2.4 kilometers (1.5 miles) long, 46 to 244 meters (150 to 800 feet) wide, 26 meters (85 feet) high at the northern cliffs, and was at sea level at the southern sandy beach.

17,000 manpower hours, over a period of four weeks, were expended by 15 professional mountain climbers, 110 workers: architecture and art students from the University of Sydney and East Sydney Technical College, as well as a number of Australian artists and teachers. All climbers and workers were paid with the exception of eleven architecture students who refused to be paid.

The project was financed entirely by Christo and Jeanne-Claude through the sale of Christo’s original preparatory drawings, collages, scale models, early “Packages” and “Wrapped Objects” of the 1950’s and 1960’s and lithographs.

The artists do not accept sponsorships of any kind.

The coast remained wrapped for a period of ten weeks from October 28, 1969. Then all materials were removed and recycled, and the site was returned to its original condition.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude, art and love

Christo (June 13, 1935) and Jeanne-Claude (June 13, 1935 – November 18, 2009) were a married couple who created environmental works of art. Their works include the wrapping of the Reichstag in Berlin and the Pont-Neuf bridge in Paris, the 24-mile-long artwork called Running Fence in Sonoma and Marin counties in California, and The Gates in New York City's Central Park.

Although their work is visually impressive and often controversial as a result of its scale, the artists have repeatedly denied that their projects contain any deeper meaning than their immediate aesthetic. The purpose of their art, they contend, is simply to create works of art or joy and beauty and to create new ways of seeing familiar landscapes.

You can go to visit the website here.

Bus stop in Liberec - David Černý

In Liberec, the sixt-largest city in Czech Republic.

Peeing Statues - David Černý

Statue of a man hanging by one hand - David Černý

Street in Prague

Statue of St. Václav riding a dead horse - David Černý

Last video about Entropa

Video to learn more about Entropa

David Černý says that having part of his controversial art work Entropa removed would not be considered a success. Cerny made the hotly discussed Entropa art work that currently is on display in the atrium of the Justus Lipsius building in Brussels.

Entropa (2009) - David Černý

His Entropa, created to mark the Czech presidency of the European Union Council during the first semester of 2009, attracted controversy both for its stereotyped depictions of the various EU member states, and because it turned out to have been created by Černý and two friends rather than, as promised, being a collaboration between artists from each of the member states. Some EU members states reacted negatively to the depiction of their country. For instance, Bulgaria decided to summon the Czech Ambassador to Sofia in order to discuss the illustration of the Balkan country as a collection of squat toilets.

The shark Saddam Hussein (2005) - David Černý

In 2005, Černý created Shark, an image of Saddam Hussein in a tank of formaldehyde.
The work is a direct parody of a 1991 work by Damien Hirst, The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living. In 2006, the work was banned twice, first in Middelkerke, Belgium, then in Bielsko-Biała, Poland[1]. With respect to the Belgian situation, the mayor of that town, Michel Landuyt, admitted that he was worried that the exhibit could "shock people, including Muslims" in a year already marred by tensions associated with Danish cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed.

The tower baby - David Černý

Another of Černý's conspicuous contributions to Prague is "Tower Babies," a series of cast figures of crawling infants attached to Žižkov Television Tower.

The Soviet tank pink (1991) - David Černý

As the Monument to Soviet tank crews was still a national cultural monument at that time, his act of civil disobedience was considered "hooliganism" and he was briefly arrested.
It is now the war memorial in central Prague.

David Černý, the controversial Czech sculptor

Hi everybody,

in the description of my blog, when I wrote that I will present you artists who like to provoke, I was thinking about David Černý. It is my favorite Czech artist.

Let's speak a bit about him.
David Černý was born in Prague in 1967. He is a sculptor whose works can be seen in many locations in Prague. His works tend to be controversial. He gained notoriety in 1991 by painting a Soviet tank pink that served as a war memorial in central Prague. He gained notoriety in 1991 by painting a Soviet tank pink that served as a war memorial in central Prague.In 2005, Černý created Shark, an image of Saddam Hussein in a tank of formaldehyde. The work was presented at the Prague Biennale 2 that same year. His Entropa, created to mark the Czech presidency of the European Union Council during the first semester of 2009, attracted controversy both for its stereotyped depictions of the various EU member states, and because it turned out to have been created by Černý and two friends rather than, as promised, being a collaboration between artists from each of the member states. Some EU members states reacted negatively to the depiction of their country. For instance, Bulgaria decided to summon the Czech Ambassador to Sofia in order to discuss the illustration of the Balkan country as a collection of squat toilets.

You can find Entropa exhibiting at DOX - Center for Contemporary Art in Prague until January 4, 2010.

You can visit his oficial website here.
The website is in Czech but you have English version.

If you want, you can also support him and join his group on facebook here.

Video about Maxime Lhermet

Découvrez Maxime Lhermet, couleurs et matières sur Culturebox !

If you want to understand his method, I have just posted a link. It is a broadcast report which was spead on a French channel. I think you can understand more if you will watch it !

Maxime Lhermet - a new French artist

Hi everybody,

my firt post is dedicated to my favorite painter. His method is very special.
Let me present you. He was born in 1974 in Sète (south of France) so he is young artist. His paints traveled a lot, like in the United States, in Germany or in Spain. His work is between figural and abstract art. A subtle mixture of burned plastic, oil and acrylic or pigments translated the success of his researches on the material which fascinates him for a long time. His paintings are realized on plastic covers burned in the blowtorch then stuck on canvas (often big sizes 80x100 cm), then painted with lacquers glycero or acrylic.

You can go on his website and discovered the agenda of his exhibitions. Click here.

You can also discover his fan page on Facebook here.


If you want to have more informations, ask me !