Ben Vautier

Ben Vautier took his own life today, at his home in France, at the age of 88. His wife Annie, who he had known for over sixty years, died of a stroke hours earlier. 

I had the incredible pleasure of conducting a telephone interview with Ben many years ago, which was never published. I’ll track down the tape and transcribe it in the coming days. 

"Characteristic of Ben’s irreverent nature were works such as boxed editions of God; wineglasses in limited editions of twenty, accompanied by certificates verifying that he had drunk the contents in sequence; Flux Missing Card Deck, 1966, a deck of playing cards from which he had removed the ace of spades; and so-called appropriation works, found objects that he branded art by writing on them Ben, je signe (I, Ben, sign). "

- Artforum