Saturday, April 6, 2013

Rolling Around



Anthropometrie de L’epoque Bleue (1960) by Yves Klein


Yves Klein Klein was a huge part of Nouveau Realisme, and he was largely interested in the dramatization of ideas beyond the box. He actually patented this really awesome pigment of a monochrome blue, and named it IKB (International KleinBlue). The blue represented a serenity, unity, and abstract aspects of tangible and visible nature, kind of like the sky and sea. Unfortunately the color was never produced commercially, but in my eyes it’s an extremely beautiful shade of blue. http://facweb.cs.depaul.edu/sgrais/international_klein_blue.htm
With “Anthropometrie de L’epoque Bleue”, in the 1960's Klein created anthropometries in which he wanted to record the body's physical energy. So the way to do this is he got some naked girls, let them roll around in some blue paint, and drag each other all over the canvas (the wall and floor. The end product reminded the artist of the “imprints left on the judo mat after one participant had fallen in a contest. 

 It was interesting. It reminded me of this artist, Phil Hansen, who demonstrates the same thing in his Youtube channel, but with puppies. It was cute, it was awesome; I loved it. With a few puppies rolling in mud in a pre-lined canvas, then he removed the strips to create the figures he wanted, hung it up to transform it into a running dog and cat. It was beautiful. Watch it. 
History of Modern Art by H. H. Arnason and Elizabeth C. Mansfield

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