Daniel Spoerri

Daniel Spoerri (1930, Galati, Romania), a Romanian-Swiss artist, director, and sculptor, initially trained as a dancer and choreographer before becoming a prominent figure in Nouveau Réalisme. 

In 1959, Spoerri moved to Paris, where he created his first object art, the Tableaux pièges. He co-founded the Nouveau Réalisme movement in 1960, alongside notable artists like Jean Tinguely and Yves Klein. His innovative 'trap pictures' involved fixing objects onto surfaces and displaying them vertically, along with 'eat art' pieces that questioned the permanence of art.

Spoerri's work gained international recognition, with notable exhibitions including a solo show in Milan in 1961 and participation in The Art of Assemblage at MoMA. He also created the Dynamic Labyrinth with Jean Tinguely and others in 1962. His Menus-pièges, exhibited in Paris in 1963, further established his unique approach by turning used dining remnants into art.

In 1968, Spoerri opened the Eat Art Restaurant in Düsseldorf and published Eat Art Edition. He embraced chance as a core concept in his work, leading a restaurant in Düsseldorf in the 1970s where guests could have their dining remains turned into art.

Spoerri was involved in constructing Le Cyclop with Jean Tinguely and taught at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste München from 1983 to 1989. Around 1990, he purchased land in Tuscany to create a sculpture park, which grew to include works by friends and his own pieces.

Since 2007, Spoerri has lived in Vienna. Kunsthandel Meijer regularly features his work. For more information, please contact us.