On the Importance of Line

The reasons that Klein expressed for eschewing lines are exactly the reasons we ought to embrace them. “Lines concretize our mortality, our emotional life, our reason, and even our spirituality […] they are our weaknesses and our desires, our faculties and our contrivances.”¹ What better way to express and explore the nature of our Selves than by employing that which does not exist – that which so perfectly embodies the non-existence of our conscious perception. We understand existence by projected boundaries on almost every level of our being. What separates one form – one object – from another is an edge: the inarticulable yet perceivable line. Lines are a function of our interpretation of reality. It is true: they may be the bars on the prison window. But to deny one’s captivity is to delude one’s Self.
1 Klein, Yves. Overcoming the Problematics of Art: The Writings of Yves Klein. Translated by Klaus Ottmann. Spring Publications, 2007.