August 8
mindweb
I was wondering if you could help me out a bit in specific relation to Felix Gonzalez-Torres.... i'm trying to glean all the information about the guy that I can from the internet - mainly due to the fact that i'm too poor to photocopy stuff from the library or buy one of those prohibitively expensive bio-catalogues that seem only to reside in the snootier galleries and ludicrously overpriced bookstores... i was wondering if there was, somewhere, somehow, a detailed bio with pictures et al (or show reviews)....or at least an inexpensive yet informative way to go about things........i'd be willing to pay for snail-mail postage if only you could find me some worthy material!!!!!........(oooooh, would you happen to have a spare piece of paper-stack lying around????!)...........anything would really be appreciated, thanks in advance.
Melbourne, Australia
reply
I'll post your email and maybe some kind peson will reply mindweb@sprynet.com - lets hope someone out there will have a spare catalog or book about Felix.
January 19
mindweb,
Could you tell me if Yves Klein's Monotone Symphony has been released on Vinyl, I'm a DJ in Sydney and would love to get a copy of this track on vinyl or cd to use at the start of a set, any information would be most appreciated
Kind Regards
Peter
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Hi Peter,
I've found in looking through a record collectors book that there are two records.
One a release from 1959, titled - "The Conference a la Sorborne"- a two lp set. This record came out in an edition of 500 copies.
The second lp is called "Prince of Space" a 33 RPM record from 1959. This is a performace by "The Outer Space Philharmonic Orchestra".
Other then those two, rare, records - which I have never heard and don't know where to get, I'm afraid that's all the help I can be.
November 10
mindweb,
I am currently in the process of writing a paper in our Modern Art History class at the University I attend. I thought I would write and ask a couple questions.
First of all, I was wondering what kind of background Klein had before his Blue works and his Void ideas? What made him think of such projects?
I also wonder if his idea of the Void creating an ambience was the first idea of that kind, and if not, who or where did he get the idea?
I am just trying to get a few more insights into Yves klein's work and feel as though with these questions answered I may have a better chance of interpreting his meanings.
Thank you very much,
Todd (Student---University of Lethbridge)
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I am not an expert on Mr. Klein, but to the best of my abilities I'll try to answer your questions. Also, a book titiled "Yves Klein" Taschen publishing (Germany) by Hannah Weitemeier is available. Although there are much better books on Yves - this one is not very expensive. The book does not go into Yves' life as deeply as others but it is a good start.
> I am currently in the process of writing a paper in our Modern Art History class at the University I attend. I thought I would write and ask a couple questions. First of all, I was wondering what kind of background Klein had before his Blue works and his Void ideas? What made him think of such projects?
Yves was into the Rosicrucian religion as a teenager. He read the book "The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception" by Max Heindel and he was a member of this group for a short time, taking their correspondence course. He was also into astrology and knew his own chart very well.
I believe he got his early ideas from the Rosicrucians. In their book is a diagram with the three colors - the colors Yves used most often, pink, gold, and blue.
His work was conceptual in the sense that it was spiritual in subject.
> I also wonder if his idea of the Void creating an ambience was the first idea of that kind, and if not, who or where did he get the idea? I am just trying to get a few more insights into Yves klein's work and feel as though with these questions answered I may have a better chance of interpreting his meanings.
The ambience idea came from reading Gaston Bachelard another philosopher who Yves read - his books are easily available.
I think lots of religions have acomplished this idea from the Quakers to so many others. A spiritual space.
Yves was a very deep thinker - he read constantly and had a deep interest in the meaning of life. All his works show this deep explorations into these very complicated subjects.
I hope this helps you. If I can help any more, let me know - but these questions require alot of reading, no quick answers here!
August 1
mindweb
I'm from Holland. I have a question about Yves Klein. Is it true he had his own color Blue. What is the name of the color ? Is it 'Klein Blue' or something like 'Phlalo Klein' ?
I hope you can give me the answer, please contact. me if you know.
Gideon
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I do know the answer to your question, It's International Klein Blue.
Yves' estate holds the patent under that exact title. Yves refered to it as IKB.
The color is Ultramarine Blue. Yves used an air brush to apply it, and the dry pigment was held together with a fixitive type of spray glue ( the secret is how it stays together!) Also the Ultramarine Blue pigment must come from an art supply store in Paris - in order to be an exact match to what Yves bought and used.
I viewed the huge retrospective show of Yves' work at the Guggenhiem Museum in the 80's. There they had their whole first floor covered with this beautiful, dry, blue pigment, it was contained in a very large square shallow box. I asked the curator where they got the blue pigment - he told me it could only be found in Paris, and they flew it all in!
August 3
Hello
My name is Ameli and I'm an artist from Sarajevo. Currently I live in Sydney and on 27th of August '97 I'm flying to Sarajevo to take a part in "The Meeting Point" (the festival of visual art orginized by SCCA-Soros Centre of Contemporary Art).
However, I write you hoping that you can help me regarding the IKB (the color Yves Klein invented.)
I will take a part in The Meeting Point - with my work "Trilogy". One part of the Trilogy performances is a"Homage to Yves Klein". The idea is to use the IKB and with its sensibility, to visually transform the City of Sarajevo.
I will at dawn cover myself with IKB and walk through the streets of Sarajevo, taking polaroid shots of myself -and leave these shots on walls, bridges, street lights, etc..
The performance will last untill: the white light takes over the blue colour of the dawn.
This is where my problem occurs. I can not find IKB on the market. You mentioned in another email an art supply store in Paris - you said that store was the only store that has the exact match of IKB. Is that to be the fact could you please give me the contact (name) of this store? Also, I need to find out how to use Ultramarine Blue pigment for "body paint" action?
I would be enormously grateful if you could answer these questions?
Regards Ameli
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What a wonderful sounding project. Can you send us some pictures.
The color IKB is Ultramarine Blue. You can buy it at any art supply store that carries pigments (I think any Ultramarine blue will be close enough). It's sold in liquid form, or in tubes, and also in a dry pigment.
I think the dry pigment will stick to the human body without any glue - how safe it is I cannot say. There might be a body paint in the exact color ultramarine blue which would be the safest choice to use.
The blue Yves used was a dry pigment - the mix is still a secret, only his estate knows. His son Yves Amu Klein has a web page you could ask him.
I think any ultramarine blue would be close enough for what you're doing. Safety must be your first choice. Yves needed his IKB to be permanent, you don't.
Best of luck Ameli
reply from Ameli
I'm so glad that you find my project wonderful. Actually, I'm truly excited. I will most surely send you the photos from Sarajevo.
Thank you very much indeed for your response.
Regards Ameli
February 11
to mindweb from Heiko
A few days ago I got an email from a man who is interested in the Void theory of Yves Klein. I submitted him some links and information which I've found on the web. Do you have more detailed information about the Void theory of Yves ?
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I think Yves' theories about the void are from his readings of Max Heindel's cosmologies (The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception). Heindels' theory of there being five elements (not the four we normally think of) fire, water, air, earth, and either. Heindel felt there is what he called a "human either"- a fifth element, very similar to P.D. Ouspenskys' thoughts, and Einstein's E = m c^2 (their thoughts about the fourth dimension). Einstein did read Ouspensky, Ouspenskys book was on his desk at the time of his death (Tertium Organum).
Heiko they all had similar ideas in their theory of time. They all said in varying thoughts that the past, the present, and the future, are all happening to us at the same time. But we humans are unaware of it. We're locked in a space outside the void.
Time is a human illusion, a time tricker you could say. I think that's what Yves was trying to get to with his deep interest in the void, the deep space were there is no such thing as time, he wanted to become immortal, and not be trapped in time. Yves Klein has certainly become immortal, his work becomes more and more beautiful just as he prayed to St. Rita for, in his famous ex-voto.
reply Heiko:
The idea with the time tricker is very interesting especially connecting the void with time. The void for me is a central philosophical subject. In Buddhist terms the void or emptiness is an expression for the lack of inherent existence. All things are empty of independent identity, all things are connected to others, some are more strongly tied than others, but in fact nothing stands alone.
It is very difficult to imagine that time should be a human illusion just like thinking about an 4, 5, or more dimensional universe. In astrophysics we learned to deal with higher dimensions using mathematics but really deeply understanding the simplest coherence in nature especially in the living nature is extremely difficult. The equations describing the evolution of the cosmos derived from Einstein's General Relativity theory are independent from the direction of time. Also in quantum mechanics there is for example an exact symmetry between particles traveling back in time and their anti-particles traveling in "normal" direction. That might be a link to Ouspensky's ideas but I find his ideas very esoteric and difficult to understand. Maybe I am to deeply mixed up with science because I always like to have proofs that I am able to understand step by step. This is what I found fascinating of Buddhism, there is no compulsion to believe but the invitation to verify its statements by yourself. Something I was never really happy with is the aspect of pre-determination in the concept of karma in Buddhism. I can easily acknowledge that my doings in the past influences the things that will happen to me in future, but if time is only an illusion maybe there is no chance at all but only pre-determination.
mindweb
WOW!