Ideas, and all that. Confession time.

I'm doing an ongoing Fantasy thing about a man who goes to be an artist in Paris.  Some of you may have seen it.  I haven't given it a time-period, but it's set in 50/60's...sort of. The latest episode shows an artist sloshing paint on her body and throwing herself at a large canvass.  In a comment, Marjorie says she saw photos about art made this way...the artist used liquid chocolate.  This was in the 1930s. I don't dream this stuff up, most of the nonsense in my story is based 'loosely' or 'firmly' on something.  In this case it was Yves Klein, regarded as a fore-runner in performance and pop art.  In the 60s, he designed his own blue paint, had models daub themselves with it and roll, wiggle or be dragged across a canvass.   Here's a pic... The version Marjorie saw was made in the 1930s...this is 1960s.  Confirming what we all know...there's nothing new under the sun. Another artist in the story has an attractive slim girlfriend who poses for him, the resulting paintings are of very fat women.  This came from two things...I'm a fan of Renoir.  Many of his models complained he painted them fatter than they really were.  The other is the wonderful Jenny Saville, a contemporary British artist.  Most of her paintings-which are huge - are of large people. Here's her breakthrough self-portrait... She's enlarged herself. My artists meet a gallery owner who is interested in 'idiosyncratic art'...not 'modern', not 'traditional'.  I've based this gallery very loosely on the Portal Gallery in London, which does indeed specialise in idiosyncratic art.  The Portal Gallery and staff are nothing like my story.  I just happen to like idiosyncratic art. I'm interested in all things art...even the stuff I don't like.  So when I'm making up stories it's all there in my noggin.  Assuming I can remember where I left my noggin. So if anybody has come up with something NEW...just remember...I never done it, guv...it weren't me.

I didn't know Yves Klein had used chocolate, that seems a better medium than paint for  young woman's skin.  I know he 'invented' his own colour blue (with the aid of the paint industry).  I'm assuming it was an oil paint.  He produced a few canvasses of solid blue...his blue...not really art in my book.  But he was a fully paid up member of the 'it's art if I say it's art' brigade.  Most of his paintings, using women as brushes, seem to be in his personal blue.  He died in his 30's otherwise he'd be better known.