Empreintes de mains 1961

Bernard Aubertin made 'Empreintes de mains' with what looks like ink, and... his hands. The simplicity of the materials is really striking. It gets you thinking about the process of making art, right? Up close, you see the texture where he pressed his hand onto the surface. The ink is thick in some places, almost like a relief, and thin in others, revealing the white paper underneath. It's physical, immediate. If you look at the bottom of the piece you can see how the marks become almost like small figures, a crowd of small beings. This repetition of a single gesture makes you think about rhythm, like a dance. Aubertin's work reminds me a little of Yves Klein’s use of simple gestures and monochrome color. Like Klein, Aubertin embraces a kind of material performance, suggesting that art-making is just as much about the doing, as the result.