Daniel Buren | Peinture aux formes variables May 1966

Peinture aux formes variables May 1966
1966
Paint on cotton cloth
81 5/16 x 70 7/8 inches (206.5 x 180 cm)
© 2019 Daniel Buren / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

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In a 2015 interview with Daniel Buren, Emily McDermott asked the artist about his use of stripes: 

MCDERMOTT: Stripes are obviously a recurring theme. What drew to you to them to begin with and why have you stuck with them?

BUREN: At the beginning it was intuition. Before I did the pieces here, I was already working with stripes, but in a very different way in ’60, ’64. In ’65, I found this material close to what I wanted. It was the idea to have something very banal, but very strong. When I saw this [type of linen] material, I thought using it would be much better [than a canvas]. I found it, I used it, and I painted on it.

Then I completely stopped doing that and worked in the street with paper. I kept stripes because it was a sign, very easy to see and to play [with]—totally different work, completely attached to the site, and opening a different way. I was certainly not thinking I would keep that for so long, but little by little, I was still working with it 50 years later. [laughs] I cannot say it is the same, but I use it and it’s a reason I invented a term, which I call “visual tool.” It’s not only something you can recognize; it’s also something I can use to change an environment. It’s not strictly stripes anymore—I can use any material—but it’s always there, the use of this visual tool is always somewhere.

–Daniel Buren, interviewed by Emily McDermott, “Stripes Across the Decades,” Interview Magazine, March 6, 2015.