Maybe it’s because my first decorating debacle was painting our living room Blue Tequila, but blue is not my favorite color. I know I’m in the minority, and I’m sure I’ll have many opportunities to revisit that statement since turquoise is Pantone’s color for the year, but for now I’m sticking to my story. Blue is sentimental. Flat. Candace Olsen. It just leaves me cold. There are exceptions to my personal ban on blue, though: Kelly Wearstler’s Avalon Hotel, Raina’s Newburyport Blue bedroom, and anything International Yves Klein Blue.
Those of you who have been reading this blog forever know I am OBSESSED with Yves Klein and his badass blue. Everyone else can read these posts I wrote 800 million years ago here and here and here. It’s because IYKB is otherwordly. Klein Blue’s super special combination of pigments vibrate with an intensity that most skimpy, wimpy blues lack. Would I paint my entire home IYKB? Well, no. I want to visit outer space, not live there.
A little touch of IYKB here and there would make me an intergalactic tourist, and that suits me just fine. I especially love Yves Klein’s modern reinterpretation of classical sculptures, which are perennial favorites of well heeled collectors.
Look expensive? That would be because they are HELLACIOUSLY expensive. Guess what’s also expensive?
A lucite coffee table chock full of Yves Klein Blue pixie dust. Oh, and this fancy pad belongs to Kevin Roberts, the CEO of Saatchi and Saatchi, so YES. The globe is also an Yves Klein piece, because homedude is crazyballs rich, that’s why.
1st Dibs has one for $24,000. Come on, you know you want it…
Of course nothing tops the rarity of Klein’s Anthropometres paintings, since they represent the imprint of an experience and are not reproducible. In other words, Klein greased up some sexy babes with IYKB paint and drug them around a piece of paper. I smell an art project coming on…
An Yves Klein poster is really more in my price point.
Perhaps the best thing about IYKB is that it’s just a color — maybe Pantone 286, to be exact? Steal from the best. Get some shockingly blue paint and start spreading the sexy. Even that damn cardboard deer head looks better in Klein Blue.
Or if you’re a fancy beast, they make blue upholstery, too.
1st Dib owner Michael Bruno’s Apartment
And of course, sometimes just a dab will do you.
Whew, dudes, did you see all those pictures? This post was a labor of love. As in, I literally feel like I just squeezed out a giant blue baby. But my obsession with IYKB deserved the full treatment, so I’m just going to pat and coo and love this big blue spawn, because he’s such a handsome boy. Yes he is. Now, go forth and paint something Klein Blue. Make mama proud.
These photos are fantastic, Erin. So glad you made this big blue baby. Yes, yes, I want some YKB in my house. I’ll take the Amanda Nisbet glossy lacquered walls or the modern tufted lounge.
Good Golly I’d love an IYKB Barcelona lounger.
Any idea if Pantone 286 comes in spray paint form? I’d love to find my own bust and go nuts.
Glad to have a longer post today. I didn’t get enough DC last week!
Great post! I like the slip and slide art plan….
Whew! I’m so stoked my bedroom made the cut.
That lacquered woodwork in the Amanda Nisbet photo is making me feel faint.
P.S. A new Yves Klein book is being released late next month:
http://tinyurl.com/y8gyfl5
I don’t know if I fall into the sexy babe category, but I would totally roll around on paper for one of those Anthropometres paintings! Gorgeous, rich, saturated color. I love it. I never thought about it, but my office is kinda that same tone of blue. Wish it had that sexy laquered sheen!
Loved the post, but “homedude is crazyballs rich” possibly made my whole week, and it’s still Monday.
blue, navy blue, blue. i’ve been so much inspired by it. really love dark blue. i even posted a moodboard on it together with gold. two royalties!
oh hell yes. I am SO TOTALLY painting something IYKB. Don’t know what, but who cares? something, anything!
The brush stroke painting is NOT one of Klein’s anthropometres series. It’s by the American artist James Nares. You can find his work below:
http://www.paulkasmingallery.com/artists/james-nares/selected-works/
Actually, James Nares is British – but New York based.
Holy doppelganger! I actually looked through Klein’s online catalogs and couldn’t find the painting I featured, but it looked so similar that I just assumed… Thanks, Sean Z for setting me straight.
yes yes yes! a thousand times yes. i’ve never seen to many wonderful ikb rooms in one spot. thank you for this!
brilliant! i keep coming back to this posting time after time……
Really love this colour but where can I buy it or does it need to be mixed at B&Q
Will anyone help me find this color? I am desperate to find. I am in Northern California and would like to paint the wall behind my staircase. Can it be mixed? Something similar? Thanks for any help anyone can offer!!!!
The REAL “Klein Blue*” is available (Just for interiors) others are copy : http://www.adam18.com/beaux-arts/couleurs-alkydes.htm
* International Klein Blue : Ultramarine pigment in a synthetic resin base invented by Edouard Adam for Yves Klein
Thanks for the tip!