Joseph Beuys - Into Fat - Essay Example

Joseph Beuys: Into Fat What I found intriguing with the work of Joseph Beuys is his use of utterly unconventional media. Fat, felt and organic media were unlikely vehicles of communication. These media do pose a lot of questions as to their aesthetic value, their inherent messages, what gave the artist the mind to consider them in art form, their different usages in the varying presentations, and lastly, their preservation. Are the organic materials like fat and felt effective tools in getting Beuys' messages across, as they are used in his actions and sculpture The encounter with organic medicine.

Being that the materials Beuys use for his actions and sculpture are unconventional, it is not surprising that we question whence it came from, what brought about the inspirations. " That's how the Tartars found me days later. I remember voices saying 'Voda' (water), then the felt of their tents, and the dense pungent smell of cheese, fat and milk. They covered my body in fat to help it regenerate warmth, and wrapped it in felt as an insulator to keep warmth in." It was written in Wikipedia that this story has served as a powerful myth of origins for Beuys' artistic identity, as well as providing an initial interpretative key to his use of unconventional materials.

However, this myth was not mentioned, even if to be shrouded in fiction, in an idiosyncratic CV that Beuys produced in a 1964 festival, title Life Course/Work Course (Wikipedia). This CV was a self-consciously fictionalized account of the artist's life, in which historical events mingle with metaphorical and mythical speech, marking a blurring of fact and fiction that was to be characteristic of Beuys' self-created persona (Wikipedia). Thus, it was a debate on the grounds of the plane crash myth, for had it been a real occurrence, it would have had a place it Beuys' CV.

Had it been made-believe, it would still secure a place in the controversial CV being that the myth provided the inspiration for his life's work. And yet it was never to be documented this plane crash which happened in Cremia and his eventual meeting with the Tartars who taught Beuys the healing properties of fat and felt. Actions. Beuys staged performances or what he call "actions" which had the magic of rituals, new to the comprehending mind, utilizing unconventional props like dead and live animals and organic materials "to induce new ways of perceiving and to heighten appreciation of the everyday objects involved" (Masters).

As MacKintosh once witnessed in Edinburgh and had commented upon the quality of the performances, it was remarked that the said actions of Beuys' had that eerie unconventionality that never really were meant to entertain the audience. Although Beuys did hog the attention, so to say, the artist had intended to relay a different kind of message, and aesthetics were the farthest thing in his mind. He defined that had the audience did actually consider his work and actions beautiful, it was only because they were unfamiliar terrain and owned a mysterious air still open for unbridled scrutiny.

It appeared that Beuys had wanted to awaken the populace, shake one out of the routines (Masters). Sculpture. Luckenbach writes, He saw art as a parallel "solution" between two poles: between soft, organic forms and hard, crystallized forms The process of finding the solution between the two poles brings about the "evolutionary step towards a new kind of freedom." In Beuys' system "an object is always a metaphor of something that transcends matter," that there subliminal messages enshrined in these objects.

In a Fat 2 way, I can relate that though we may be looking at a particular piece, we may not conceive of the artist's message immediately, but gradually comprehension will sink in without us being aware it. Like say looking at animal fat, though there may be some of us that may be immediately repelled, we should ask ourselves, "why do we feel repelled Is it because we know subconsciously that the piece may mean something about ourselves as viewers" Meaning is generated through the movement along a series of metaphoric levels: from the elemental material (fat), to the physical state (liquid/solid), to the conceptual (organic/crystalline), to finally, the creative implications embodied by this process as a model for creative solutions to problems in all spheres (Luckenbach).

Ultimately, fat is a metaphor for the potential for change and the release of creative energy Often his objects carry a relative consistent meaning from context to context, between objects and between actions. Some of them are "reincarnations of his past performances. These are what remain from those occurrences and seem as sentimental reminders" like a time capsule of the sort that could transport the viewer to the actual performance as it takes place. They "exist on their own terms yet are also the cocoons from which Beuys emerged" (Masters).

Fat, like felt, was a material that appealed to Beuys because it was "a composite with no internal structure" and able to change from states in ease (Garner). And yet, it may not be likely to withstand time as an art form. Fat and felt are subject to change due to the passage of time, thus, it may not be able to preserve its relevance. Preservation through photos. With the matter of preservation of the actions and the sculptures of Beuys, the use of photographs and the media is introduced but not to be regarded as fine art prints to be admired, but as evidence and part of Beuys' process, defying the devotional aspects of art (Masters), being that the "acts recorded are more important than the materials used to preserve them.

He's involving the viewer in a different way. He's offering, like a scrapbook, some samples from his playing field. These are the ingredients of his recipe." Masters quotes: The photographs document the art, the performances, the tools and component elements used in the performances. Beuys' aura hogs the attention, absorbs the focus. Photos of corners of workplaces become Beuys' workplace, close-up details become details of Beuys' objects. A ready-made page, removed from a magazine, smeared with animal fat is a Beuysian piece.

But as it is with the sculptures, the photos are not secondary to the action, they exist in themselves and serve to emphasis the action (Garner). Tisdall writes that Beuys' photos are of "the most resonant images in the 1960s." Joseph Beuys was a master non-conformist. He had encouraged looking at things with a different perspective and to go beyond what meets the eye. He has opened people to unprejudiced views, may these be pertaining to art or to the artist exposing himself. He had tried to topple old conventions to make room for a more healing outlook.

Masters writes that "he breaks with the tradition that would have him making precious objects to be exhibited in a system that needs these Fat 3 accouterments to congratulate itself for its creative achievement or to applaud itself for its taste." He may have offered oddities as means of expressions, however these have given us profound understanding of the makings of the controversial human nature. Bibliography Bastian, Heines and Jeannot, Simmen.

"Interview with Joseph Beuys." Joseph Beuys, Drawings. Victoria and Albert Museum. Westerham Press, 1983. The researcher used data from said authors because they documented into the exhibition catalog Beuys' aesthetic views and attachment detachment to his audience's reception of his work. Borer, Alain. The Essential Joseph Beuys. The MIT Press. Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1997. P.9. The researcher used data from said author because he is the Professor at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Tours. His book was inspired by an imaginary beuys exhibition unhampered by the problems connected with actual exhibitions.

The book provides a definitive survey of the artist's work in every medium in which he worked. The book reflects the changes in Beuys' choice of register, from the soliloquy of his early days to the dialogue of his period as a teacher to the powerful language of his public lectures to international audiences. Cooke, Lynne. 7000 Oaks. 1995-2006. Dia Art Foundation. 8 Dec. 2006 The researcher used data from said author because her essay documented Beuys' tree planting project called 7000 Oaks which both function as a small-scale, intimate project, the outcome of individual initiative, as well as a highly ambitious, potentially vast undertaking meant to be replicated elsewhere.

Durini, Lucrezia. Joseph Beuys: A Life Told. Milano: Charta, 1997. P.33. The researcher used data from the said author because she, who maintained deep ties with the artist, is in constant relation to the two most unique aspects of Beuysian thought - reappropriation and creative freedom where the notion of art is meant as a rebirth and the renewal of man and the systems in which he lives. Garner, Henry. "Joseph Beuys and The Body." codesign.co.uk. 2000-2005. Aviation Partners (UK). 8 Dec. 2006 The researcher used data from the said author because his essay discussed Beuys' attachment to bodies may it be his own or those of the animals he use in his actions, giving light to things in order to comprehend his extremely diverse output.

Jones, Amelia. The Artist's Body. Phaidon [London], 2000. P.77. The researcher used data from the said author because her book tackled on the argument of the reality of Beuys' persona and biographical accounts. Joseph Beuys. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 8 Dec. 2006. The Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 8 Dec. 2006 The researcher used this data from the said website because it was documented accounts on Beuys' early life, life after the war - with quotations from the artist on his mythological plane crash - his artistic development and notoriety, criticisms and recuperation.

Luckenbach, Julie. "Joseph Beuys Multiples." Walker Art Center. 1997. Estate of Joseph Beuys/ARS, NY. 8 Dec. 2006 The researcher used this data from the said author because she documented for the Walker Art Center valuable infor mation on Joseph Beuys Multiples, or devices for communication, vehicles for the distribution of ideas that could reach a wider group of people than could a single work of art. MacKintosh, Alastair. "Beuys in Edinburgh." Art and Artists, Vol.5, No.8. Nov. 1970, p.10.

The researcher used this data from the said author because he has witnessed first-hand and had documented Beuys' Edinburgh action Celtic (Kinloch Rannoch) Scottish Symphony. Masters, Greg. "Joseph Beuys: Past the Affable." Greg Masters Homepage. 2005. 8 Dec. 2006 The researcher used this data from said author because he was able to attend a version of Beuy's Arena - where would I have got if had been intelligent! Dated 1970-72. Mondadori, Arnoldo (Editore). Quartetto, Milano, 1984, P.106. The researcher used this data from said author because he has documented Beuys for the exhibition catalog highlighting the healing qualities inherent in art.

Nevill, Timothy. In Memoriam Joseph Beuys. P.7. The researcher used this data from said author because he was able to document Beuys' passing and memory and general relationships with younger contemporaries. Tisdall, Caroline. Joseph Beuys. Anthony d'Oofay. 1982. The researcher used this data from said author because she was a great personal friend of Beuys and had followed him closely throughout his life. Tisdall, Caroline. Joseph Beuys. Thames and Hudson. 1988. P.101. The researcher used this data from said author because she was a great personal friend of Beuys and had followed him closely throughout his life.

Tisdall, Caroline. Joseph Beuys. The Solomon Guggenheim Museum. NY, 1979, p. 225. The researcher used this data from said author because she was a great personal friend of Beuys and had followed him closely throughout his life. Tisdall, Caroline. Joseph Beuys: We Go This Way. Violette Editions [London], 1998. P.31. The researcher used this data from said author because she was a great personal friend of Beuys and had followed him closely throughout his life. In this book she leads the reader through such diverse topics as Beuys' relationship to alchemy, botany, ecology, economics, literature, philosophy, politics, psychology and shamanism.

Her observations on Beuys' art reach a poetic simplicity rarely achieve in art writing.