Bernard Aubertin (1934-2015) - Tableau clous

A historic and extremely rare work, created in 1967, fully aligned with the radical thinking of the Zero movement, it sits within one of the artist's most iconic cycles: the red monochrome nail compositions, a concrete manifestation of his concept of 'visual fire' and material tension.

This Tableau Clous is particularly important for its structural characteristics typical of the artist's 1960s works: the nails, in very large and dense quantities, are driven with the tip into the board rather than pointing upward, a trait that characterizes only the very first Tableau Clous executed by the artist in the 1960s; the support of the work is an irregular, raw wooden board, unique, not one of the standardized panels that the artist used in the serial production of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

These two distinctive features confer a great and important uniqueness to the work in terms of compositional quality and historical significance.

The work features very dense clusters of nails arranged with the point facing downward, a significant choice in Bernard Aubertin's production and particularly typical of his 1960s works, the phase in which he was structuring his language with greater rigor and density.

This material structure with nails amplifies the three-dimensionality and depth, underscoring the artist's interest in the relationship between color and matter.

A work studied, felt, and desired by the artist, a powerful conceptual expression with strong visual impact.

The work also stands out for the strong materiality of the red pigment used and for its gestural character, which reflect the conceptual force Aubertin aimed for in this piece.

The proposed Tableau Clous is archived at the Bernard Aubertin Official Archive and accompanied by the archival certificate.