In 1988, a small manmade island off the Dutch coast was animated with an immersive and monumental outdoor contemporary art exhibition – fifty massive 2x3 meter screenprinted flags waving in the breeze. The project was envisioned by the Gran Pavese Foundation, led by Thérèse Legierse, Peter van Beveren, and Ralph van Hesse. The foundation took their name from the Italian nautical phrase gran pavese which refers to the “dressing overall” of a voyaging ship, wherein the vessel is elaborately strung with maritime signal flags for ceremonial or celebratory purposes. Fifty internationally recognized artists were invited to design their own interpretation of a flag, with no thematic concept to unite them all beyond the medium, size and freedom to apply their own imagery and methodology to the project.
The U.S. Navy patrol boat USS Isabel (PY-10) at Hankow, China, dressed overall in honor of the coronation of King George VI of England, May 14, 1937.
While many artists chosen for the Gran Pavese project were already engaging with the varied iconography and ideology of flags in their practice, the notion of creating a flag itself offered a distinctive set of challenges and possibilities. Like a painting on canvas without a stretcher, the works would eventually embody a certain fluidity, not hanging stagnant on a gallery wall, but billowing freely in the air for all to see. Artists also needed to consider the histories and multifarious meanings endowed in the symbolism of flags such as existence, origin, distinction, authority, territory, loyalty, glory, belief, and identity, amongst other philosophical conceits. With their demonstrated grasps of the extensive significance of the flag form, each of the fifty artists rose to the occasion of the project to create flags that represented a global amalgamation of unique artistic visions, socio-political convictions, and conceptual frameworks – a staggering gran pavese for the contemporary era.
Due to both the individual creative success of each artist and the astounding experience of viewing the outdoor exhibition in its totality, the projectattracted crowds of visitors to the island of Neeltje Jans. Following the Netherlands installation, the project, in all its beauty and scale, travelled the world, gracing the river borders of Frankfurt, the Tiananmen Square in Beijing, the Great Wall of China, and beyond. The international tour of 50 monumental flags paid homage to the Gran Pavese Foundation’s seafaring namesake, their various visuals and symbolisms representing a grand celebration of the international art community.
“My definition of art is: astound, scandalize, provoke, or be yourself, be new, bring, create.”
— Ben Vautier
Though the self-taught French artist Ben Vautier first made a name for himself with his prankish, provocative sensibility as a Fluxus performance artist, he later turned to his “écritures,” or written paintings, made by applying white acrylic paint straight from the tube onto a dark ground, often adding cartoonish figures to animate them. His Gran Pavese flag thus combines these two key aspects of his practice: simply rendered, monochrome drawings, and a flair for the humorous and crude. His illustration of a curly-haired figure gesticulating tauntingly – tongue out and fingers splayed – is brought to life when flying in the wind, creating a performance of sorts as Vautier playfully torments the public and the world at large through the waving gesture.
Vive la différence, from Gran Pavese – The Flag Project
1988 Monumental screenprint, on polyester flag. 75 1/2 x 114 1/2 in. (191.8 x 290.8 cm) Signed and numbered 2/10 in black ink on the white trim of the flag, additionally signed and numbered 2/10 in black ink on the accompanying Certificate of Authenticity issued by the publisher (there were also 4 in Roman numerals), published by Gran Pavese Foundation, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.