Tableau clou, 1968

Wall object with nails and acrylic on wood

Mass: 50 x 90 cm

Aubertin first produced monochrome nail paintings in 1960. At first he produced pictures in which the nails, driven through an impasto of paint, almost disappeared under the red paint. In a second phase, lasting until 1965, he drove long steel nails through the wooden panel from the back; the penetrated nail tips and the splintered wood on the front were covered with red paint. This was followed by geometric, crystalline or star-shaped nail structures and, around 1971, nail paintings with thin fluorescent paint.

After a trip to Spain, he attempted a new artistic beginning with the two-dimensional and impasto painting of the colour field pictures.

Bernard Aubertin, born in Fontenay-aux-Roses near Paris, is considered a representative of the ZERO movement. He studied painting in Paris from 1955 to 1957, during which time he explored Cubism and Futurism. He created figurative works, especially portraits, landscapes and still lifes. In 1957 he met Yves Klein, and one year later he created his first monochrome red panel paintings. Aubertin initially concentrated entirely on the colour red (as an expression of fire) to create spaces of colour and light. His works are represented in numerous museums, and exhibitions have been held at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, documenta 6 in Kassel, the Vienna Secession and the Musée d'Art Moderne et d'Art Contemporain, Nice, among others.