Yves Klein (1928 1962) was the most important French artist of the second half of the 20th century. Born in Nice, he spent his formative years studying Judo in Japan for a time, before settling in Paris and beginning to exhibit his work there. Many of these early paintings were monochrome and in a variety of colors. By the late 1950s, Klein's monochrome works were almost exclusively in a deep blue hue which he eventually named International Klein Blue (IKB).A number of works featured naked models covered in blue paint dragged across or laid upon canvases to make the image, using the models as brushes. Klein is also well known for a photograph, Leap into the Void, which shows him jumping off a wall, arms outstretched, towards the pavement. Klaus Ottmann is a philosopher, writer, and curator based in New York. He has written numerous essays on art, design, and philosophy, and is the author of The Genius Decision: The Extraordinary and the Postmodern Condition; The Essential Michelangelo; The Essential Mark Rothko; Wolfgang Laib: A Retrospective; and James Lee Byars: Life, Love, and Death. He is the curator of the sixth SITE Santa Fe international biennial, which takes place between July and December 2006.