der künstler ist ein beamter....., 1979

Born in Brazil, in 1925, Almir Mavignier studied in Germany at the Hochschule für Gestatlung in Ulm. Max Bense’s aesthetics of information and Josef Alber’s studies of colour proportionality have been major influences of Mavignier’s work. The works are mainly considered to be in the Op Art and Abstract genres. He has also worked as a commercial artist. He developed works such as Permutations by creating a pattern from a surface of geometrically ordered points. By using certain combinations of colour, the points form a surface which seems to vibrate. Mavignier has travelled and experienced much of the modern art scene. In 1951, after a solo exhibition in Sao Paulo, he moved to France, and lived in Paris. In 1952, Mavignier changed his location again, moving this time to Ulm in Germany. The year 1954 saw a stylistic development for Mavignier as he created his premier Point-Images. A further development of his style in 1955 saw Mavignier creating Grid-Images. Monochromatic images were first seen in Mavignier’s work in 1957 and in 1958 he co-founded and worked within Group 0, also called Zero Together. Almir Mavignier’s work was exhibited internationally through the 1950’s and 1960’s, with his works shown in the Venice Biennial, at Dokumeta 3 and 4 and at the MoMA in New York. Almir Mavignier has established his personal studio in Hamburg; he also teaches there at the Hochschule fur Bildende Kunst. (Artist website)