Artist Review #19: Joseph Beuys

The Artist Review is a series in which I will review the work of twenty of my favorite contemporary 2D and 3D artists.

Joseph Beuys was an extremely prolific German artist in the post-WWII era. However, in America Beuys is not so much known for his versatility as for his performance pieces. Performance Art became a style of its own in the 1960s, and Beuys freely experimented with the medium. He made several memorable performances (or "Happenings" as they called them in the '60s) which were so uncanny that they seem to overshadow his other works in any discussion about him. Yet Beuys was a prolific artist who transitioned freely between mediums, creating work on paper, doing performances, and making installations. Beuys' persona was shrouded in mystery, perpetuated by his imaginative retellings of the formative events in his life. In his personal life, Beuys was something of a German Andy Warhol.

Joseph Beuys: I Like America And America Likes Me, 1974.

On his first early visits to America, Beuys performed his most famous piece in a gallery in New York City. Beuys spent eight hours each day for three days locked in a room with a wild coyote, possessing only a felt blanket and a shepherd's staff. Part symbolic-gestures, part improvisation, the performance ended with Beuys bonding with the coyote and leaving the gallery, and America, immediately afterward.

Joseph Beuys: Fat Chair, 1964.

Fat and felt are re-occurring elements in Beuys work. For Beuys, these materials had symbolic meaning and themselves served as symbols for his persona. The symbolic meaning and importance of these materials to Beuys has origin in his account of a near-death experience he had while serving in the German Luftwaffe during WWII, when his plane crashed after being shot down. In Beuys's later version of the events, he recounted being saved by the Tartars on the Crimean Front, who coated his body in fat and wrapped him felt to insulate him from the cold. This story came to take on a mythological importance for Beuys, who began using fat and felt in his works in the 1960s.

Joseph Beuys: Felt Suit, 1970.

This particular work I actually have personal experience with, having seen it at MoMA. When I saw it, Felt Suit was displayed hanging high above the viewers' heads with a whole wall to itself. The color and quality of the wool felt is very striking in person, as well as the simplicity of the cut. Though at first glance the work appears to be normal suit, ready-to-wear suit, it is in fact not. Beuys intended the suit as a self-portrait, and it is easy to see why. Not only is it made out of felt, but it implies human presence in its shape. Unlike a normal suit on a hanger, this suit appears to have a personality which is conveyed through the hunched shoulders. To exaggerate the expressiveness of this suit, Beuys had it custom-made with slightly elongated arms, no buttons or buttonholes, and wide, unpadded shoulders.

Joseph Beuys: The Pack, 1969.

The Pack functions as an analogy to Beuys' rescue in Crimea, an event to which he frequently alluded. The Volkswagen van was used in Europe for ambulances; here it is shown disbursing aid packs of sleds each with felt, fat, and a flashlight. The scene is a symbolic re-imagining of Beuys' rescue, a significant formative event in his life that affected his art. 

Joseph Beuys: 7,000 Oaks, 1982.

Beuys is credited with creating the concept of Social Sculpture, which is based on his philosophy that "everyone is an artist". For his first Social Sculpture in 1982, Beuys planted a tree, with the instructions that the project be continued until 7,000 trees had been planted. The rest of the project was carried out by volunteers, which was Beuys' intent. Since then, the concept has been used by many artist groups who operate on the same premise: coming up with an idea and then inviting the public to participate in executing the project.



Sources:
Felt Works: Joseph Beuys