Biography
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Born
28 April 1928
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Born In
Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur, France
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Died
6 June 1962 (aged 34)
Yves Klein was a French artist and is considered as an important figure in post-war European art. New York critics of Klein's time classify him as Neo-Dada, but other critics have classified Klein as an early, though "enigmatic" Post-Modernist.
Klein is well known for the photograph: "Saut dans le vide" (Leap into the Void), which apparently shows him jumping off a wall, and arms outstretched towards the pavement. He used the photograph as evidence of his ability to undertake unaided lunar travel. In fact, "Saut dans le vide" was published as part of a broadside on the part of Klein denouncing NASA's own lunar expeditions as arrogant and foolish (the "artist of space").
Yves Klein was also known when he offered and managed to sell empty spaces in the city in exchange for gold. He wanted his buyers to experience The Void by selling them empty space. In his view, this experience could only be paid for in the purest material: gold. In order to restore the "natural order" that he had unbalanced by selling the empty space, Klein threw the gold into the river Seine.
Klein's work revolved around a Zen-influenced concept he came to describe as "le Vide" or in English: "The Void". It is a nirvana-like state that is void of worldly influences; a neutral zone where one is inspired to pay attention to ones own sensibilities, and to "reality" as opposed to "representation".
Sometimes the creation of these paintings was turned into a kind of performance art—an event in 1960, for example, had an audience dressed in formal evening wear watching the models go about their task while an instrumental ensemble played Klein's 1949 The Monotone Symphony, which consisted of a single sustained chord.
Link:
more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yves_Klein , http://www.yveskleinarchives.org/
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