Bernar Venet. Undetermined line

Discover works from the MAMAC collection on the Promenade du Paillon in Nice

Bernar Venet. Ligne indéterminée, 1985

Bernar Venet‘s Lignes indéterminées (Undetermined Lines) illustrate the struggle the artist carried out with the material to bend it to his will, while conceding it a certain autonomy and maintaining its distinctive characteristics: the black colour, weight, rigidity and coldness of metal.

The work confronts two forces: the intrinsic force of the material and form, and the more irradiant force that defines the space surrounding the sculpture and influences him. According to Bernar Venet, Lignes indéterminées creates ‘an alteration, a disorganisation, a disruption’ of space. The sculpture thus suggests both fragmentation and tightening; heat and cold; the indeterminacy of the final object, without purpose or origin, and the extreme mastery of the artistic gesture.

The artist gives the impression of liberating his Lignes indéterminées from all technical or physical constraints, bringing life and substance to an almost autonomous material. In doing so, he places the work beyond any division between abstraction and figuration.

Venet is a central figure on the international art scene. Particularly renowned for his monumental sculptures in Corten steel, his work has continued to flourish in fields as diverse as painting, performance, poetry, sound, design and photography.
[MAMAC]