André Cadere
About the Artist
Cadere was born as Andrei Cădere in Warsaw in 1934, of Romanian and French descent. Having spent some years in Portugal, his family returned to Romania after the Second World War and there he attended the Academy of Bucharest.
In 1967, he moved to Paris where he pursued a career as an artist, developing an individual conceptual practice which focused on barres de bois rond (round bars of wood). Informed by op art and growing trends in minimalism and conceptual art, Cadere developed his first barre de bois in 1970. The batons became the principal prop within his performative events. With a baton in hand, the artist would infiltrate art gallery and museum openings to which he had not been invited. As well as bringing his batons into the art world, Cadere also presented them in public spaces (including restaurants and subways), announcing ‘exhibitions’ where he would appear between specific hours every day over a certain period of time, engaging passers-by with discussions about his baton and art. The artist died in Paris in 1978.
Round Bar of Wood A 00213000
1975
Twelve segments of painted wood assemblage
Cadere is part of an artist’s generation who in the 1970s sought to break free from the confines of institutional art spaces. The first Barre de bois rond dates back to 1970, when it became the protagonist of his daily performative actions: the artist infiltrates exhibitions to which he is not invited or sets up his own works in public spaces, such as subway stations, simply laying them on the ground.
Cadere produces approximately 200 bars, assembling cylindrical segments of wood in eight colors that alternate more or less regularly (primary, secondary, white, and black). To determine the color sequence in each object, Cadere develops a mathematical scheme, by always introducing a deliberate error. Each stick is accompanied by a unique and mysterious code and a certificate of authenticity.