This is the first complete collection of the writings of the visonary French conceptual artist Yves Klein (1928-1962) to be published in English translation. Klein was an artist with a keen philosophical mind, yet deeply spiritual. Inspired by his study of the Japanese Kata (the abstract movements in Judo), Rosicrucian cosmogony, alchemy, and the phenomenological and psychological philosophies that emerged during his lifetime (particularly the writings of Gaston Bachelard), he constructed his vision of a future art that would purify the soul and society from the ashes of painting.>

This volume offers a compelling examination of the surprising conceptual and visual correspondences between the works of these two pivotal artists known for their innovative practices. Klein (1928-1962) was a major figure in postwar art who opened up new possibilities for material, conceptual and performative expression, often touching on the metaphysical. Hammons (born 1943) is a conceptual artist whose works in performance, installation, sculpture, printmaking and other media confront contemporary realities with an often hard-hitting wit. This publication aims not to draw out any notion of influence or direct correlation between these bodies of work, but rather to elucidate a resonance between two artists who both engage transformative processes to invest the humblest of everyday materials with deep aesthetic significance.