John Armleder

John M Armleder was born in Geneva, Switzerland 1948, where he lives and works. His career spans five decades and synthesizes many of the competing aesthetic developments associated with that period.
Student of Fluxus in Geneva in the 1960s, and founder of the Ecart group, Armleder was later, in the 1980s, associated with Neo-Geometric Conceptualism. He is known for the variety of his work, which combines Fluxus spirit and abstract painting, readymade and sculpture, performance and room-size installations. As a painter, sculptor and performance artist, Armleder constantly asks questions about what art is, what it can do, and what art is allowed. From room-size installations to abstract paintings, from geometrical constructivist paintings to furniture sculptures and pattern-strewn wallpapers, his art admittedly takes on attributes of Suprematist painting, Minimalist sculpture, Concrete Art and Dada readymades, among other movements. Student of Fluxus in Geneva in the 1960s and founder of the Ecart group, Armleder was later, in the 1980s, associated with Neo-Geometric Conceptualism for his furniture sculptures, conflating art and the design object, as he has always been interested in breaking through perceived divisions between art and architecture, art and design, and art and functional objects. Recent projects have seen Armleder looking at more conceptual approaches, questioning the notion of authorship via delegation methods and curatorial undertaking. John Armleder’s art never looks quite like itself, and it escapes any possible definition and label. Nevertheless, he has developed a signature vocabulary and sense of humour that make his work unmistakably his own. John Armleder’s upcoming retrospective, Yakety Yak, will open at MRAC - Musée régional d’art contemporain Occitanie, Sérignan, France, this April. The Swiss artist has had solo exhibitions in prestigious institutions such as: Again, Just Again, Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai, C (2021), It Never Ends, Kanal Centre Pompidou, Brussels, B (2021), Della materia spirituale, MAXXI, Rome, I (2020), Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, D (2019); Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, USA (2019); Museion, Bolzano, Italy (2018); MADRE - Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Donnaregina, Naples, I (2018); Istituto Svizzero di Roma, Rome (2017); Consortium of Dijon, France (2014), Dairy Art Centre, London (2013); Swiss Institute, New York, USA (2012); Kunstmuseum, Sankt-Gallen, Switzerland (2010). Selected group shows include: Picture & After, MAMCO Genève, Genève, Switzerland (2023); Geometric Opulence, Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zürich, CH (2022); &, MAMCO Genève, Genève, CH (2022); It Never Ends - Part 2, Kanal Centre Pompidou, Brussels, B (2021); X_Minimal, Cassina Projects, Milano, I (2021), Stop Painting, Fondazione Prada, Venezia, I (2021), Villa Chiuminatto, Torino, I (2021), Récit d’un temps court, MAMCO, Geneva, CH (2016); Biennale de l’image en mouvement 2016, Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève, Geneva, CH (2016); Accrochage, Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Strasbourg, F 2015); Don’t Shoot The Painter, GAM, Milano, I (2015); Food: Produire, Manger, Consommer; Musée des civilisations de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée, Marseille, F (2014).
In 2011 he received the Meret Oppenheim Prize, in 2007 the Leenaards Foundation Prize and in 1995 the Ville de Genève Prize. He was shown at the Thessaloniki Biennial of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki (2013); the International Triennial of Contemporary Art, Yokohama (2008); the Prague Biennial, Prague (2008); the 7th Biennial of Contemporary Art, Lyon (2003); the 6th Sculpture Biennial, Lugano (2001) and the 42nd Venice Biennial, Venice (1986).