"I am a die-hard arsonist. My message is fire."
Bernard Aubertin is a French artist known for his red monochrome paintings. Close to Yves Klein, who set him on the path to abstraction in 1957, Bernard Aubertin joined the German artist group ZERO alongside Otto Piene, Heinz Mack, and Günther Uecker. From this moment on, he would take an approach devoid of all expression to eradicate all forms of previous creation; he arrives at a new state, then, in harmony with the physical and natural elements. Aubertin’s art incorporates performances, the best known of which, his "tableaux-feu", are made from matches. The artist burns his paintings and exhibits them in ashes, drawing attention to the subtle interplay between the materiality and immateriality of the work. Possessed of great visual force, Aubertin's work has since remained faithful to the exploration of the dynamic possibilities of red and fire, though he sometimes incorporates gold and white, or kineticism.