"Dessin de Feu" (R 59), 2010

Yves Klein, whose acquaintance Aubertin made in the 1950s, inspired him to follow his example and concentrate on one colour in his work, in his case red. Soon his artist colleagues jestingly called him "Bernard le Rouge". He began creating monochrome red panels (and later also nail panels), structuring the surface with the use of spatulas, spoons, the back of a knife, or the tines of a fork. For him, the colour red was a symbol of fire. He soon started to arrange matches on the canvas he had painted red, and then set them alight. During the 1960s Aubertin was in close contact with the ZERO artists; in 1977 he participated in documenta 6 in Kassel. From the early 1990s the artist lived in Reutlingen, Germany.