French artist Michel Parmentier died in Paris hospital on June 24th 2000 following a fall during which he broke his skull. Born in 1938 in Paris, Parmentier studied at the Ecole des Métiers d'Art, where he met Daniel Buren between 1957 and 1961, and then at The School of Beaux Arts until 1963. A talented painter, he started to produce folded monochrome canvasses, blue in 1966, grey in 1967, red in 1968.
He adopted a somewhat aggressive stand against Salons, which in view caused the public to be lazy. He however ceased to paint from 1967 until 1983, the year he went on to produce paintings this time with regular horizontal black bands.
Parmentier met success in 1988 after a retrospective at the National Centre for Contemporary Art in Paris but continued to lash out at what he called the establishment. He then exhibited with Buren in 1991 in Brussels but always remained provocative and, as a result, isolated in being distasteful regarding art circles. Still, he was much admired for his rigour by a small group of amateurs.
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