The French artist, Yves Klein was among the pioneers of performance, minimal, and pop art. He did not only use the result of his work as an artistic piece but he included the whole artistic process as creating something new and different. For instance, in the case of a series of paintings, he made a performance out of the creation of the works. In 1949, he composed The Monotone Symphony, a single 20-minute sustained chord followed by a 20-minute silence, and played it during these events.
Klein was a highly self-conscious artist, so when he realized that his audience perceives his multicolored paintings as mere interior decorations, he decided to reduce his world to one color only: blue. The color later became his emblematic feature, conveying a sense of infinity and otherworldliness.
Besides The Void (an empty space in a wardrobe), one of his most famous works was Anthropometries, which is a series of paintings created by the naked bodies of women. Klein was fascinated by experimenting, and he often did so regarding the tool with which he can apply paint on the canvas. In a little while, he developed the idea of "living brushes" (female bodies). He controled the process of creation as a conductor: they made the women, colored in blue paint, roll over, squirm, or being dragged over his canvases in a ritualistic manner. He regarded sponges or brushes (thus, these bodies as well) as sanctified objects because they impregnate by being impregnated. He pondered on this in the sense of artistic effect: he wanted his viewers to be impregnated by his art with the susceptibility of sponges. Strangely enough, Anthropométries do gets stripped from raptorous eroticism, and conveys a more foundamental meaning by the plunging, splashing, dreaming, and levitating bodies it displays. As Klein himself put it: "My paintings are but the ashes of my art."
Klein was a highly self-conscious artist, so when he realized that his audience perceives his multicolored paintings as mere interior decorations, he decided to reduce his world to one color only: blue. The color later became his emblematic feature, conveying a sense of infinity and otherworldliness.
Besides The Void (an empty space in a wardrobe), one of his most famous works was Anthropometries, which is a series of paintings created by the naked bodies of women. Klein was fascinated by experimenting, and he often did so regarding the tool with which he can apply paint on the canvas. In a little while, he developed the idea of "living brushes" (female bodies). He controled the process of creation as a conductor: they made the women, colored in blue paint, roll over, squirm, or being dragged over his canvases in a ritualistic manner. He regarded sponges or brushes (thus, these bodies as well) as sanctified objects because they impregnate by being impregnated. He pondered on this in the sense of artistic effect: he wanted his viewers to be impregnated by his art with the susceptibility of sponges. Strangely enough, Anthropométries do gets stripped from raptorous eroticism, and conveys a more foundamental meaning by the plunging, splashing, dreaming, and levitating bodies it displays. As Klein himself put it: "My paintings are but the ashes of my art."
Banksy: Christ with
Shopping Bags Graffiti has always been a controversial genre, since it was frowned upon, being considered as a form of vandalism. It was an underground movement and an ephemeral form of art for a long time, but lately it has been admitted to the artistic canon. Amusingly, one example for this breakthrough is the graffiti-project in the London underground and the New York subway.
The British artist, Banksy is infamous for his tongue-in-cheek works which usually convey messages with strong social connotations. He looks at social tendencies from a critical point of view. Just like many contemporary artists, mainly the ones in the field of street art, which is considered extremely direct and forceful, he uses shock as a tool for revelation.
Christ with Shopping Bags is a stencil of the crucifixion, depicting Jesus with two huge bundles of gifts in his pierced hands. The graffiti is an imprint of an era where "God is dead", yet, holidays still florish. Banksy's work suggests that holidays, especially Christmas, have lost their meaning and they became the celebration of consumer society, where people's sentimentalism or religious belief are used as tools for gaining profit. They are more of industrial and commercial happenigns than intimate family events: they became oversentimentalized and empty at the same time. Also, it is clear that just as he violated the sanctified image of Christ, people make products out of everything, without giving it a second thought. Everything is possible, and nothing is untouchable if it sells well.
The British artist, Banksy is infamous for his tongue-in-cheek works which usually convey messages with strong social connotations. He looks at social tendencies from a critical point of view. Just like many contemporary artists, mainly the ones in the field of street art, which is considered extremely direct and forceful, he uses shock as a tool for revelation.
Christ with Shopping Bags is a stencil of the crucifixion, depicting Jesus with two huge bundles of gifts in his pierced hands. The graffiti is an imprint of an era where "God is dead", yet, holidays still florish. Banksy's work suggests that holidays, especially Christmas, have lost their meaning and they became the celebration of consumer society, where people's sentimentalism or religious belief are used as tools for gaining profit. They are more of industrial and commercial happenigns than intimate family events: they became oversentimentalized and empty at the same time. Also, it is clear that just as he violated the sanctified image of Christ, people make products out of everything, without giving it a second thought. Everything is possible, and nothing is untouchable if it sells well.
