Yves Klein: Fire at the Heart of the Void

by Pierre Restany, Klaus Ottmann

Restany's groundbreaking, exegetic study show show the myth of fire was the culmination of the artist's quest for the immaterial. The visionary French conceptual artist and "painter of the Void" Yves Klein (1928–1962) was an artist with a keen philosophical mind, yet deeply spiritual.

Genres: Art

132 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

Reviews

[Prabhat Gusain · Rating 5 out of 5]

The language of fire is situated in Yves at the conjunction of three axial coordinates: the apotheosis of technique, the synthesis of an idea, and the full incarnation of a myth. Such is the secret of his incomparable quality, true beyond truth, beautiful beyond beauty. Fire permitted Yves to take on the two poles of his vision, to be full himself in his art, and to express himself completely in the instant. He found in the line of fire the language of his truth and the truth of his language. No other technique would be able to procure for him such ease, liberty, and an opening onto his infinity and the infinity of others, onto the in-itself and the for-itself of things.

Yves thoroughly immerses himself in fire symbology in his monochromes. His dear friend, Pierre Restany (the author), urges us to try and read his fire paintings as one does the lines of the hand. When we have reached the point of not being able to distinguish the mirror from the object, when we have integrated matter with the mind, when we have understood all that is linked and indissociable, we have carried out our Blue Revolution, we will have returned to a state of nature in technical Eden, the immutable center. We will then be able to join Yves Klein in the eternal present of the glorious body, the corpus glorifications, and plunge ourselves in the Fire in order to take possession of our own Self. Thus we ourselves will be fire.

[Tosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice critical long essay on the works of the artist Yves Klein and his connection to spirituality - especially with the essence of the blue heat and the color blue in his work. Klein was an exceptional artist. Much missed.