1. Bernar Venet was born on 20 April 1941 and is a French conceptual artist.
22 Facts About Bernar Venet
1. 2.
Bernar Venet was the 2016 recipient of the International Sculpture Center's Lifetime Achievement Award.
3.
Bernar Venet was born to Jean-Marie Venet, a school teacher and chemist, and Adeline Gilly and was the youngest of four boys.
4.
Bernar Venet was brought up in Chateau-Arnoux-Saint-Auban and had a religious upbringing, aspiring to become a missionary.
5.
Bernar Venet struggled with asthma and academic subjects at school, while excelling in drawing and painting.
6.
In 1961, Venet joined the French Army whilst starting to establish his style as an artist.
7.
Subsequently, Bernar Venet became familiar with the work of Arman and some of the New Realists in Paris, such as Cesar Baldaccini, Raymond Hains and Jacques Villegle, and started sculpting with cardboard.
8.
Bernar Venet exhibited alongside New Realists and pop artists' works in the Salon Comparisons at the Paris Museum of Modern Art.
9.
In 1967, Bernar Venet moved to New York and shared fellow artist Arman's studio, at 84 Walker Street.
10.
From 1971 to 1976, Bernar Venet did not create any art, entering a period of retrospection.
11.
Bernar Venet took up teaching Art and Art Theory at the Paris-Sorbonne University, and frequented lectures in England, Italy, Poland and Belgium.
12.
Bernar Venet resumed his artistic activity in 1976, exhibiting works at "Documenta VI" in Kassel in 1977.
13.
Bernar Venet composed, choreographed and imagined the costumes and designs for Jean-Louis Martinoty's production of the ballet Graduation.
14.
Bernar Venet's work has become known internationally, with sculptures exhibited in Belgium, America, Japan, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Canada and more recently New Zealand.
15.
In 2005, Bernar Venet received the title of Chevalier de La Legion d'Honneur, France's highest honour.
16.
In 2012, Bernar Venet was commissioned by Alan Gibbs, an art collector based in New Zealand.
17.
That same year, the luxury car maker Bugatti invited Bernar Venet to create a one-off artwork to be applied to a Veyron Grand Sport.
18.
Bernar Venet has had a major presence in Asia in collaboration with de Sarthe.
19.
In 2016, Bernar Venet was awarded the International Sculpture Center's Lifetime Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award.
20.
Bernar Venet was represented by Blain Southern from 2016 until the gallery went into administration in early 2020.
21.
In November 2020, it was announced that Bernar Venet had joined the roster of Waddington Custot in London.
22.
In 2022, in his first exhibition with Waddington Custot, Hypotheses, Bernar Venet presented a new collection of his large-scale Angles series, alongside drawings and smaller sculptures.