Monumenta is an annual art project in its fifth year, located in Paris’ Grand Palais. The project asks an artist of international stature to fill the Nave of this stone and steel building with its soaring glass vaults and a space measuring about 145,000 square feet.
 
Grand PalaisThe Nave, Grand Palais, Paris
This year the artist featured is Daniel Buren, a minimalist artist who is considered one of France’s national treasures, according to Art Daily. I love many of his works because they fill the space with vibrant color, and his ‘Excentrique(s)’  follows suit.
 
Daniel Buren

‘Excentrique(s)’,  Daniel Buren, 2012, in situ at the Grand Palais.
Photography: Didier Plowy, courtesy: Daniel Buren, ADAGP, Paris

Buren’s work “in situ” is created on the site, and is one of the hallmarks of his work.  He first began working onsite as a struggling artist, because he could not afford a studio.

Daniel Buren‘Excentrique(s)’,  Daniel Buren
Photograph: Francois Mori/AP

“Parisian daylight has a very special quality—sometimes soft, sometimes hard—and when you’re under this amazing roof, there’s nothing obstructing it from flooding in. All the time I was thinking of ways of sculpting light and air.” -Daniel Buren, from the Wall Street Journal

Daniel Buren‘Excentrique(s)’,  Daniel Buren
Photograph: Patrick Aventurier/Getty Images

Part of Buren’s inspiration resulted from a drawing of five concentric circles that he saw while leafing through a book of Arabian mathematical drawings from the 10th century. He saw that the circles covered a greater amount of space than any other geometric form.

Enjoy a slideshow of images at The Guardian, and visit Daniel Buren’s site to view more of his work: www.danielburen.com

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