Performing on Paper
Yves Klein, "Untitled Anthropometry," 1960.
Yves Klein, the subject of a current retrospective at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington D.C. and the maker of this image, liked to compare his work to “ashes.” Creativity is often likened to an inner fire, and this work is the end product of an elaborate creative process.
Klein, a proto-performance artist, wanted art to be both distant and intimate and he solved this dilemma creatively. He thought of himself as the director of his work and used nude models smeared with paint to make a print-like image on a mural. In this image a woman’s body presses against the page, but only the legs and torso really register. Klein liked that the “psychological” or most personal aspects of the self were traceless: unlike most art, this is not about an artist’s eyes or hands. The body makes the art, quite literally, and the artist maintains both distance and control. Despite the distance, though, Klein directs every aspect of the work, even creating a patented shade of his own “International Klein blue,” which he used throughout his short career.
The exhibit runs until September 12 and the Hirshhorn has set up a multimedia site through Dipity that includes clips of Klein introducing his own work and process:
In: body art, contemporary · Tagged with: Anthropometry, Hirshhorn Museum, Yves Klein