Important Art and Artists of Nouveau Réalisme
Monochrome Blue (1960)
Between 1955 and his death in 1962, Yves Klein produced 194 "monochromes," or canvases painted with a single color. The technique of painting the entire canvas with a block of color challenged expectations of what the content of a painting should be. His literal depiction of colors as their real selves with unadorned simplicity, lacking of line, image or intention, was his way of opening art to extended possibilities. It also acted as an antidote to the dominant style of Abstract Expressionism, which championed the lyrical expression of paint as being conjured through an artist's pure emotion. Instead, paint could be used as a tool to invest a space with sensibility, rather than meaning.
In the beginning, Klein's monochromes came in multi-colors, but at one particular show he was disheartened by the audience's propensity to try, and divine relationships between the paintings of different color so he eventually settled on a specific hue of blue to convey his point. He said of his choice of color, "blue has no dimension, it is outside dimension, while the other colors do have one. [...] All the colors bring associations of concrete ideas [...] while blue at the most brings to mind the sea and the sky, already the most abstract things in tangible and visible nature." In order to create this distinctive color, Klein worked with a chemist to create a precise, patented, signature hue; it was named, and is still recognized worldwide today, as International Klein Blue. His blue paintings became invitations to infinity; in fact, he compared one of them to an "open window to freedom."
Shooting Picture (1961)
In 1961, Niki de Saint Phalle (one of the few female artists associated with Nouveau Réalisme) held an exhibition at Galerie J entitled Fire at Will. On show were several of her "Shooting Pictures" from her series Tirs, which means gunshot or fire in French. In these pieces, polythene bags of paint were fixed to a board and covered with thick plaster. Viewers were then invited to shoot a rifle at the surface, popping the bags and causing the paint to run down the textured white surface. This particular work was shot at by a number of people, including American artists Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg.
The process of creating the artwork within the public eye, and asking others to join in, became a collaborative performance, which dissolved traditional stereotypes of the artist as a solitary hermit-like figure and opened up art's reach toward the populous. This mirrored the Nouveau Réaliste mission of staying loyal to reality rather than designating it with construed hierarchical values. It also allowed for the final product to become one of chance, proving that art could be as spontaneous as it can be strategic.
Critic Craig Staff interprets the aggressive nature of these shooting pictures as representing the death of traditional painting as a medium. He claims "it is difficult not to interpret Saint Phalle's 'shooting paintings' iconoclastically and within a set of terms that unequivocally sought to negate, if not entirely bring down, the medium." After a couple of years, Saint Phalle stopped making these works, claiming she had become "addicted to shooting, like one becomes addicted to a drug."
Baluba (1961-62)
Tinguely's Baluba series, executed from 1961-1963, were wildly provocative odes to the detritus of consumer culture. The sculptures were created from a variety of found objects in compositions that radiate disharmony while also promoting the beauty of fragility. Most of the objects are scruffy and old, and are used as a pointed comment on society's promotion of brand new objects. Tinguely considered each piece a living entity and was pleased at his ability to present dark commentary on mass production and the industrialization of society through such humorous means.
This piece exists as a parody of traditional sculpture, composed with an industrial oil drum as a plinth, rising to a collection of objects delicately balanced at the top. This work is also kinetic, following in the tradition of Naum Gabo and Alexander Calder. The viewer can press a pedal beside the work to activate a motor, which causes the sculpture to move and shake. The Centre Georges Pompidou describes the effect: "what seemed incomplete and unsatisfying when motionless, when animated becomes a bizarre enchantment of sorts."
It is interesting to note that the Baluba pieces oftentimes contained colorful feathers, inspired by his relationship with fellow Nouveau Réaliste Niki de Saint Phalle, who he would later marry.