Arman

Galerie Iris Clert, Paris
Svensk-Franska Konstgalleriet, Stockholm
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner in 1964

Stockholm, Svensk-Franska Konstgalleriet, Tendenser II, 1964, n.p., no.13

Denyse Durand-Ruel, Ed., Arman Catalogue Raisonné, Vol. II, 1960-62,Paris, 1991,  p. 168, no. 360, illustrated

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate, although the cog wheels tend more towards yellow in the original. Condition: This work is in very good condition. Close inspection reveals some superficial scratches to the plexiglass, and two minute and unobtrusive specks of paint loss to the lower edge of the wood.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Petites Conséquences is typical of Arman’s iconic Accumulation corpus in which the mass-produced ‘Readymades’ of post-industrial society appear en masse in an endless duplication of ubiquitous forms. Executed only three years after the artist had turned away from the gestural devices of Abstract Expressionism and Tachisme, the present work is an early manifestation of Arman’s engagement with seriality and repetition for its potential to transform meaning and achieve abstraction. Comprising countless cogs encased within crystal clear resin, the present work is archetypal of the artist’s particular fascination with various machine parts. Indeed, these appropriated gears would become some of the artists most favoured and relied upon elements, prized for their distinctive aesthetic and strong associations of form.

These found objects, so redolent of constant whirring and ticking movement, contrast sharply with the paralysis of Arman's Accumulation. This subversion is furthered by their composition. Neatly contained within a box, the cogs are overtly imbued with a sense of typographical order that belies the practical purpose of their original manufacture.

In keeping with the best of Arman’s oeuvre, this work owes a debt to Dada and its glorification of the machine-produced products of the industrial world. More specifically, the present work echoes Kurt Schwitters' love of the wheel for its symbiotic relationship with the human spirit, whilst evoking the famous Merz Pictures which pioneered the collage of man-made ephemera on a traditional two-dimensional support.

With Petites Conséquences, Arman glorifies the machine-production process itself. Disassembled and galvanized into one of his idiosyncratic Accumulations, this piece unravels our understanding of function and form, making new expression by sheer repetition and wearing out of preconceptions. Herein, Petites Consequences is at once cerebrally challenging and aesthetically delicate – a worthy example of Arman’s paradigm-shifting praxis.