ARMAN Silkscreen "Boom Boom", Boom Boom (unique variation from New York International Portfolio), 1965

"The artist drew guns on the silkscreen from which the prints were made. Each has an additional hand-stenciled gun for uniqueness and variety.The many revolvers, in accumulation, become so many horse heads. They gambol like the hills of the palm. Claes Oldenburg's ray guns of 1959 are evoked, as are Arman'e own accumulations of spectacles ans high heeled shoes. Silver and gold guns - aluminum and brass - take the light differently from the black and single red.Black silhouette, simple outline, 'arbitrary' smudge and continuous hatching are ways in which the gun is drawn. The effect is lively, not death-dealing." (from the portfolio introduction by Henry Geldzahler)

Here is the hand signed and numbered screenprint with unique pencil variations from the New York International portfolio, (which also featured work by Willi (Mary) Baumeister, Robert Motherwell, Oyvind Fahlstrom, John Goodyear, Charles Hinman, Allen Jones, Ad Reinhardt, James Rosenquist and Saul Steinberg.)

Provenance: 

The provenance is superb as it came from the original NY International Portfolio, and is accompanied by the original portfolio sleeve. Other artists in the portfolio were Motherwell, Reinhardt, Rosenquist, Steinberg, Bauermeister + more.

Excerpt from the MOMA catalogue featuring this print (see JPEGS):

"Accumulation and repetition are the hallmarks of the work of Nouveau Realiste artist Arman. In common with the art of other members of this loosely defined Paris-based group, Arman's work signaled the return of interest in the industrialized urban environment after the predominance of abstract painting. His inventive constructions incorporate numerous manufactured goods, such as shoes, car parts, violins and paint tubes. Eschewing the personal artistic mark, Arman began making rubber stampings in 1955, which, by the end of the decade, evolved into his tracings - impressions on canvas made by objects dipped in paint.

Revolvers have been a constant motif in Arman's work, beginning with the accumulation Boom!Boom! of 1960 and appearing as recently as 1979 in Tools of Persuasion. Other objects of violence, including sabers and gas masks, also appeared in the early 1960s work. During this period, Arman began his aggressive actions titled Coleres or Tantrums, which included dynamiting a car and smashing a cello on stage. This period of violent motifs, reflects in part, Arman's wartime experiences and coincides with the increased tension in Paris over the Algerian war. (1956-1962).

Arman was inspired by the prints of Jasper Johns that he saw on his first trip to New York in 1961. Among Arman's earliest prints are several lithographs and monotypes composed of repeated renderings or imprints of an object. In 1966, Rosa Esman of Tanglewood Press invited him to participate in her portfolio New York International. After the success of her first publishing venture, New York 10, Esman chose to work with an international roster of artists, many of whom had successful exhibitions in New York that season. More established artists, such as Robert Motherwell and Ad Reinhardt, were also included.

Arman's approach to printmaking paralleled that of his sculptural accumulations: for this print he made a template of a revolver and drew repeatedly with it on the screen, sometimes outlining and at other times filling in the entire stencil using opaque and metallic inks. To individualize the prints in the edition, Arman layered additional revolvers by hand, so each one remains different.  Like John's art, Arman's compositions comgine expressive draftsmanship with repeated images of commercially produced, highly charged, everyday objects. "