La,la,la (RE50)

Born in Nice in 1928, Yves Klein was a leading Nouveau Réalisme artist. He began attending a Judo class at a police department in 1947. He visited Japan in 1952 and spent a year, during which he received the fourth dan (degree) from the Kodokan. Klein held Yves Klein, Proposte monocrome, epoca blu (the age of blue), which consisted only of blue monochrome paintings, at Gallery Apollinaire in Milan in 1957. He named the ink used for the works in this exhibition International Klein Blue, IKB and patented it. In 1958, he held The Void at the Iris Clert Gallery (Paris). Every inner surface of the gallery was painted in white in this exhibition. He acted as a key figure of Nouveau Réalisme founded by Pierre Restany in 1960. In the same year, he performed Anthropometries at the Galerie International d’Art Contemporain (Paris). He died of a heart attack in 1962. Though his life was only 34 years, he made a great mark in the 20th century art scene. Sponges soaked with IKB are fixed to the bumps and dips that remind of moon’s surface. The board painted all in blue is filled with deep spirituality as if to invite viewers to the infinite universe.