Maker/Artist
Patterson, Benjamin
American musician and Fluxus artist, 1934-2016
An assemblage and performance artist who is considered one of the founders of the Fluxus movement. He was also a classically trained double bassist, performing at times with orchestras. He upended traditional notions of composition with his Fluxus-era pieces, particularly "Variations for a Double Bass" of 1962. In the 1970s he ceased making artwork and became a reference librarian. He returned to artmaking in the mid-1980s.