Olivier Mosset

Biography

Born 1944 in Bern, Switzerland
Lives and works in Tucson, Arizona

Olivier Mosset’s astute and (often) provocative approach to painting has kept him at the cutting-edge of contemporary art since the late 1960’s. Then in Paris, he gained recognition as a member of BMPT alongside Daniel Buren, Michel Parmentier, and Niele Toroni. This short-lived group of conceptually driven painters reduced the level of skill required to create their work as a means of making art more accessible and to emphasize the importance of the art object over its authorship. After relocating to New York in 1978, Mosset’s body of monochrome paintings were a key influence on the generation of Neo-Geo painters who were to emerge in the 80’s. Keeping always within painting’s particular limitations and concerns and with a deep understanding of the sensuality and physicality of color, Mosset’s work engages acutely with the network of institutional relations that underlie our encounter with art.