This process "with an infallible rigor »⁵P. Restany, « Arman et la logique… », op. cit., n. p. is part of a methodological succession that is generally not compatible with the anger state. Let us quote the artist : « Very often, we act - I think that it is human, perhaps even animal, but it is especially human - and suddenly is superimposed, in spite of us, a part of unconscious. We want to do something, we want to go in one direction, but there will always be an unconscious correction [...]. There is first - before a series of works or a new idea – the intuition. I think it's common to all arts and all research. After intuition, there is the desire: that desire to see this thing incarnate, to do it. After the desire, there is the will to gather the necessary material forces. And, finally, there is the execution. And in the execution, one cannot have forgotten either intuition or desire. That's maybe what I call the unconscious »⁶Arman, in D. Abadie, « L’archéologie… », op. cit., p. 61-62..
The execution phase, as we have already envisaged, is perhaps to be apprehended, at least partly, in an autonomous dimension.
« I do not want to make beautiful, to make valuable I want and that's all »⁷Arman, Letter to É. Radigue, stamped on 19 may 1958., assures Arman in a letter from 1958, which precedes this analysis of Restany : « Art cannot exist without crisis : the state of crisis is, par excellence, the most favorable to creation. The rest, the stability of opinions and tastes, intellectual “bonace”, nothing more harmful to the artist who caulk there. But to undertake a work at a time when the crisis of the mind has reverberated on all the facts of life, where the lack of a spiritual attitude is most violently felt by an ever increasing number of men, is a challenge. Arman responds to the crisis of the mind by a decision of the will. Without decision, there is no possible answer »
⁸P. Restany, « Arman », in Arman, cat. exp., Milan, Galerie Schwarz, 1963. Reprod. in J.-M. Bouhours (dir.), Arman, op. cit., p. 266..
The executing phase is the necessary step that satisfies the need for a conquering energetic expression that is difficult to dissociate from the artist, and whose origin remains difficult to identify among all the tracks launched here. This is undoubtedly the central argument of the astrological theme due to Éliane Radigue, inserted in the catalog of the exhibition Arman at the Schwarz Gallery in Milan in 1963 : « Immediate and fortuitous composition miraculously corresponding to the Astrological theme of the artist Arman (born) November 17, 1928. Nice. 15 hours. Scorpio, ascending ram. As we can see, the prime mover of Time is at the tip of Mars, the governing planet of the native theme. The planet Uranus which presides over the imaginative faculties of the subject coincides exactly with the table of temporal variations. (Which explains a lot of things). It is amusing to note that the Sun and Mercury planets responsible for the character's vital and intellectual capacity are at the point of fall of the signed piece. The most confused part of the personality of the native is in direct relation of place with the elements situated in Mid-Sky, elements overlapping also confusedly enough. The pentacle polygon located in Taurus, at the cusp of the first house, is obviously a guarantee of success and good fortune, enlightened by a well-contexted and powerful Jupiter »⁹El’Hyane (Eliane Radigue) « Le temps éclaté », Arman, cat. exp. Galerie Schwartz, Milan. Reprod dans J-M Bouhours (dir.) « Arman », op.cit. In a letter sent to Arman in 1960, Eliane Radigue comments an astrological theme established this time by art dealer Iris Clert’s own astrologist. Among other things, she writes : « It’s obvious that the greed for power, for sex, for lie are recurrent and repetitive in several bad aspects of your theme but there’s too, at a lesser degree, generosity, high reasoning that can moderate all that…Remains the astrological axiom of the stars and the planets which show for the individual concerned (by it)several possible directions from which to choose, that’s what you cal master your destiny while mastering yourself ». (E Radigue, letter to Arman, 1960)..
But the epilogue will rather be left to Pierre Restany - witness and sometimes target of this Armanian « vital and intellectual capacity » - who, at the very end of the 1960s, draws this portrait of Arman : « [...] the whole person constitutes a curious, rather exceptional mixture of physical strength and artistic propensities. The dominant character is a constantly renewed permanent dose of brute energy : a capital of physical and sensual dynamism that determines action in all areas. This need to act, to plunge into active “praxis“ probably explains the eclecticism of the character and of his tastes. Whether it is a behavior exploded in contrasting attitudes or conversely a gesture of expression developed logically, the dynamic impulse and energy expenditure are the same. Arman is the depository of a vital force whose irresistible triggering irreparably engages him through the smallest of his activities : he is there behind each of his gestures. This commitment power is not blind. It is coordinated, channeled by a primary moral sense, a very consciously felt phenomenon of existence in the world. This moral sense is reflected in the instinctive search for the economy of means. Very aware of the abundance of his energy capital, he is not always prodigal and knows how to spare time, resting stasis between periods of paroxysm. Such energy, accompanied however by instructions for use, and linked in its unleashing to a pragmatic and naturally efficient morality : this is the most striking overall dimension as soon as the character opens up to you, beyond first and superficial appearances »¹⁰P. Restany, « Arman » op. cit., p 1.
