Bernard Aubertin and Armando at The Mayor Gallery

The Mayor Gallery brings together the early work of two pre-eminent Zero artists in this upcoming exhibition of Bernard Aubertin: Works from 1958 – 89 and Armando: 47 Bolts through April 5, 2012. Taking two differing stances on the (re)development of art after the loss of artistic faith in post-war Europe, the works on show question the very nature of a representative aesthetic.

Armando (b. 1929, The Netherlands), a leading figure in the Dutch NUL movement, gives us, through his white panels upon which nuts and bolts are fastened, an alternative to the traditional mythopoetic subject matter. It is not that the work is about anything apart from the work itself, (an insular, abstract view that Armando rejected outright), but that there is no delineation between subject and object, there is no interpretation of reality: the work is a rational rendering of fact through seriality, rhythm and light.

With Bernard Aubertin (b. 1934, France) we find within the intention behind his red monochromes, his tableau-clous and tableau-feu, an attempt to create a unifying force, a new universal language that will harmonise humanity, the structure, the movement of his colour sometimes literally engulfing the audience as a singular organism (Aubertin famously set fire to his tableau-feu series and within this show we exhibit the ephemeral burnt matches and books that were given what he saw as a spiritual and physical freedom through this process).

Red abounds within his canvases, from his early monochromes to the tableau-clous in which, as a compositional tool, lines of hundreds of nails are imbedded within the work, giving them a surprising structural vivre.

Both being idiosyncratic visual poets, both being important figures within the ZERO movement, yet working from dialectically opposed methods and philosophies, make Bernard Aubertin: Works from 1958 – 89 and Armando: 47 Bolts at The Mayor Gallery an important and fascinating insight into a much misunderstood period of art history.

Fully Illustrated Catalogue with text by Colin Huizing and Bernard Aubertin available.