The illy Art Collection designed by Daniel Buren for Monumenta 2012 – four espresso cups in limited edition – draws on a visual pattern chosen by the artist in 1965 and which subsequently became his signature: alternating white and colored stripes (8.7 centimeters wide), inspired by the pattern of a type of drapery that was very popular at the time, and commonly used on awnings, deckchairs and pillows. The artist employs this “outil visuel” (visual tool) to redefine space and force the viewer to establish a new relationship with disparate places, monuments or objects and thereby changing the perception of reality.
Today Buren’s “visual tool” decorates four black espresso cups with their increasingly wide saucers, akin to a tale being slowly unveiled, first revealing the white and then, with a twist, the green, yellow, red, and blue. The colors are “hidden” underneath the saucers themselves and re-draw both the single object and the whole composition.
To learn more about illy’s Art Collection and it’s Daniel Buren designs, go here:
http://www.illy.com/wps/wcm/connect/en/art/the-latest-cup 
