Boom-Boom

Arman is best known for his sculptures of accumulated objects; this drawing of hand guns repeated in a pattern is thus unusual in terms of the artist's medium and technique, but it takes up larger themes that he consistently explored in his works. Despite its two dimensions, this drawing can also be seen as an accumulation of recognizable objects. Arman, inspired by the work of Kurt Schwitters, rejected Abstract Expressionism and lyrical abstraction in the 1950s, and turned to an art form that was highly depersonalized and mechanized. He favored the Dada movement, compiling found objects to modify their meaning by repetition. This emphasis on repetition can clearly be seen in this drawing, but unlike in many of his other works, here the artist's hand is readily apparent.