Toni Grand was born in 1935, in Gard, France. He began his education in literary studies and then went to l’Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Montpellier. At the age of twenty, he chose to specialize in sculpture, working with lead, polyester, steel, cast iron and various other materials. His first exhibition was held at the Paris Biennale in 1967.
Since Grand decided to immolate his oeuvre, the pieces that escaped the conflagration are conserved in private collections or renown museums that have yet to produce the retrospective his work deserves. He used mainly elements of wood, stone, bone and fish of the congridae family to produce image-forms whose recognizable features are not the attributes of a signature style, but of authentic imagination.
Grand’s production has been considered a response to American Minimalism and Process Art. If his ingenuousness rivals Carl Andre’s artlessness, his steel sculptures weigh in with Richard Serra, and his experiments with anti-form compare with Robert Morris, Grand manages sin machismo. The Ceysson gallery is proud to present the manly art of Toni Grand.
www.ftn-books.com has the Venise 1982 catalogue now available.
