What I'm more interested in, however, is how the (performance art) works of McQueen and Klein are connected. The videos below show us the many common elements:
- orchestra (Klein's own Monotone Symphony [CLICK HERE TO LISTEN] and McQueen's selection of Motzart's Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major (K. 488);
- spray paint;
- models;
- paint on models;
- mechanically sprayed application of paint;
- white canvas/white dress;
- refined audience; and
- IKB (International Klein Blue).
Aura~
The immaterial presence of an art work.
Authority~
The aura relating to an art work’s original creation, placement and historical duration.
The places throughout time and space in which the aura of an art work can be perceived.
Certainly Maria Lewis' description of the 1960 Klein performance is indisputably accurate:
"At the end of Yves' piece everyone in the audience was fully aware they had been in the presence of a genius at work, the piece was a huge success! Mr. Klein triumphed. It would be his greatest moment in art history, a total success.
The spectacle had unquestionable poetic beauty, and Mr. Klein's last words that night were, 'THE MYTH IS IN ART'."
~ Maria Lewis, Editor, Art Minimal (1997 - 2010)
"although he first gained notoriety as fashion's enfant terrible, he showed his softer, more romantic side with his emotionally wrought collection for his signature line for spring/summer 1999 that had model shalom harlow in a dance between two robots sprayed with yellow and black paint on her ivory dress. it was so moving, and poignant that it brought people to tears. it was the collection that finally killed any doubt about this young man who proved that he was able to produce a show that was so cohesive as a whole and present it in a dramatized story that captured the theme and emotion of the collection." ~ Roybotic Steez
