黑料不打烊

Presented in Conjunction with FotoFest 2010 鈥� 13th International Biennial of Photography and Photo-related Art  

Pyrotechnics, exploding pigment, blowtorches, lacerated d茅collage, and found materials: these radical media, tools, and gestures characterize Nouveau R茅alisme (New Realism), the avant-garde movement founded in Paris in 1960 by Pierre Restany and Yves Klein. Together, the noted art critic and artist drew their inspiration from the contrarian, anti- art philosophies of Dada. 

Conceived and organized by Associate Curator Michelle White, Leaps into the Void: Documents of Nouveau Realist Performance will include nearly 40 works by artists associated with the group, including Niki de Saint Phalle, Jean Tinguely, Martial Raysse, Christo, Mimmo Rotella, and Arman. All held to the belief that direct and aggressive physical explorations 鈥� characterized by a paradoxical emphasis on notions of deconstruction and accumulation, as well as the use of the detritus and debris of everyday life (in the tradition of Dada) 鈥� could lead to a more truthful understanding of modern society. This was especially so at a moment of rising, rampant consumerism. 鈥淚f one succeeds at reintegrating oneself with the real,鈥� according to one tenet of the First Manifesto of Nouveau R茅alisme, 鈥渙ne achieves transcendence, which is emotion, sentiment, and finally, poetry.鈥� 

Highlighting the temporality of a lesser-known avant-garde movement, the exhibition will demonstrate how New Realism actively engaged with other conceptual and performance-basedart as it was emerging in the United States. Along with Fluxus, Assemblage, and Pop Art, Nouveau R茅alisme remains influential in the history of modern art. 

Drawn from the Menil鈥檚 archives and permanent collection, Leaps into the Void: Documents of Nouveau Realist Performance will include film, photographs, painting, collage, and other media, pertaining to the movement鈥檚 ephemeral and performance-based projects. The lasting influence of Nouveau R茅alisme is epitomized by Yves Klein鈥檚 Leap into the Void. These remarkable photographs 鈥� in which the elusive Harry Shunk captured the artist leaping from a Paris rooftop, seemingly launching himself into space 鈥� will be shown along with other documents of the act. Among these will be Klein鈥檚 mock Sunday newspaper, a guerilla intervention played out on the streets of Paris that reported on the artist鈥檚 gravity-defying feat, emblazoned with the headline, 鈥淎 Man in Space! The Painter of space throws himself into the Void.鈥�

Shunk, who effectively served as Nouveau R茅alisme鈥檚 house photographer, created extensive records of the artists鈥� work. He also photographed the artists themselves, including the Belgian surrealist Ren茅 Magritte and American pop artist Roy Lichtenstein. After Klein鈥檚 death in 1962, Shunk remained active on the scene, documenting the works of Tinguely, Saint Phalle, and Christo; steadily, however, he became more reclusive, not responding to publishers鈥� letters or lucrative offers for his archive. (After Shunk鈥檚 death in 2006 the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation acquired the collection of some 100,000 items.) 

The exhibition will also feature works by Niki de Saint Phalle, well known for her 鈥渟hooting paintings鈥�. Using plaster, paint, and a .22 caliber rifle, Saint Phalle would elevate her works onto a platform and open fire, exploding bags of pigment 鈥� thereby creating a work of art. Saint Phalle often collaborated with her husband, Jean Tinguely. A founding member of the group, Tinguely satirized the overproduction of material goods in industrialized society by constructing kinetic sculptures with junkyard scraps, a process he called metamechanics. Tinguely鈥檚 machines stand as an embodiment of the Nouveau 
Realist philosophy -- in the words of Pierre Restany, 鈥渁 poetic recycling of urban, industrial, and advertising reality.鈥�