Robert Filliou 6

This paradoxical portrait of Robert Filliou aligns itself with the tradition of critical appropriation pioneered by Gerhard Richter in his renowned paintings based on printed photographs, blurred to achieve an ambiguous pictorial quality. Like Richter, this work investigates the boundaries between documentary imagery and subjective interpretation, yet introduces a conceptual twist deeply rooted in Filliou’s own legacy.

Robert Filliou, a central figure of the Fluxus movement, is remembered not only for his artistic output but also for his efforts to expand the institutional frameworks of art. His project «La Galerie Légitime» (1964)—an imaginary gallery housed inside a hat—symbolized the aspiration to shift the museum from a physical space to a mental and poetic realm. In this painting—where the artist’s face is conspicuously absent and only an improbable, nearly vanishing angle is shown—we encounter an “anti-portrait” that pays tribute to Filliou’s vision. The choice of perspective is deliberate: it withholds identity, inviting viewers into a play of disappearance and imagination.

The piece is part of «The Paintings Section from Davis Museum Barcelona», a symbolic micro-museum founded in a ballot box, conceived as a ready-made, a digital archive, and a nonprofit artistic collective. In the lineage of Duchamp, Broodthaers, and Filliou himself, the museum fosters a critical inquiry into the mechanisms of display in contemporary art.

I work exclusively with oil on linen canvas, using Old Holland pigments and Talens mediums. The square format of the painting refers to the geometry of the Davis Museum, which is conceived as a cube. This piece belongs to the “Full Color” period, encompassing works created between 2016 and 2018.

In private collections:
Alejandro Vásquez Herrero, Viladecans, Spain
Daniel Marcoux, Montreal, Canada
Francesc Torres, Barcelona, Spain
Geert De Kegel, Zele, Belgium
Soteris Argyrou, Nicosia, Cyprus
Yellowstone Club, Big Sky, Montana, USA