"I Like America and America Likes Me"
July 3, 2007 2:57 PM   Subscribe

"He spent three days in a room with a coyote. After flying into New York, he was swathed in felt and loaded into an ambulance, then driven to the gallery where the Action took place, without having once touched American soil. As [he] later explained: ‘I wanted to isolate myself, insulate myself, see nothing of America other than the coyote.’" ( documentary yt clip)
posted by bardic (86 comments total) 8 users marked this as a favorite
 
Don't blame me, I voted for Zombie Joseph Beuys.
posted by rabbitsnake at 3:07 PM on July 3, 2007


Zombie Joseph Beuys approves.
posted by cortex at 3:07 PM on July 3, 2007


God dammit.
posted by cortex at 3:08 PM on July 3, 2007


O wad some Pow'r the giftie gie us
To see oursels as others see us
posted by felix betachat at 3:11 PM on July 3, 2007


where did he poo?
posted by shmegegge at 3:19 PM on July 3, 2007


Where did the coyote poo?
posted by hydrophonic at 3:24 PM on July 3, 2007


Coyotes poo everywhere.
posted by infinitywaltz at 3:25 PM on July 3, 2007 [1 favorite]


Performance art is like dance to me: I respect the fact that it moves and impresses others, but it does nothing for me. But if he wanted to hang out for a while with a coyote, while wearing some sort of blanket, hey, more power to him.
posted by languagehat at 3:28 PM on July 3, 2007 [4 favorites]


Coyote? Explains how he crossed the border...
posted by basicchannel at 3:31 PM on July 3, 2007 [1 favorite]


Strangely, after leaving the animal's presence, all he could say was "Beep-beep! Zip-pang!"
posted by JHarris at 3:42 PM on July 3, 2007 [1 favorite]


i'm confused...

is famous performance art from 1974 the best of the web?
posted by MonkNoiz at 3:48 PM on July 3, 2007


eight years later he had changed his tune.
posted by progosk at 3:51 PM on July 3, 2007


That's amazing. Maybe I've done too many psychedelics, but this would be an incredible thing to experience, and only slightly less to witness.
posted by Flashman at 3:56 PM on July 3, 2007 [1 favorite]


I play that exact same game with my dog all the time.
posted by M.C. Lo-Carb! at 4:00 PM on July 3, 2007


Joseph Beuys viewed performance art as a medium with the potential for self healing and social transformation.

I view performance art as a medium mixing pretentiousness, fakery and laziness. They're a step below mimes and just ahead of homeless people who sing Allman Brothers songs while they wave their upturned hat at you.
posted by Mayor Curley at 4:03 PM on July 3, 2007 [3 favorites]


It amuses me greatly to see posters here pretty much re-enacting the group interview from the clip.

Anyways, happy Fourth of July you fucking philistines.

(progosk, I came across that clip for the first time today. One of the awesomer things I've seen in a while, in terms of sheer strangeness.)
posted by bardic at 4:07 PM on July 3, 2007 [1 favorite]


I view performance art as a medium mixing pretentiousness, fakery and laziness. They're a step below mimes and just ahead of homeless people who sing Allman Brothers songs while they wave their upturned hat at you.

Asshole.
posted by Alex404 at 4:11 PM on July 3, 2007 [1 favorite]


I used to play that game too M.C. Lo-Carb! but then I discovered it was way more fun to do it the other way around, where the dog gets hidden by the blanket.

And thus the concept of puppy blanket burritos was born.
posted by quin at 4:14 PM on July 3, 2007


Ok, since folks seem more interested in "discussing" the validity of performance as a medium rather than Beuys himself, or his work (depressing, but all too typical...), I'll toss in a little more to dignify bardic's effort here.

There is a direct line of influence which runs from the "Action" performances of Joseph Beuys and the (arguably) more significant performance pieces of his student Anselm Kiefer. Titled "Occupations" (Besetzungen), Kiefer systematically deconstructed Fascist pretension by photographing himself in the late '60s at sites throughout Europe, dressed as in a Wehrmacht uniform making the fascist salute. Over the course of the series, Kiefer gradually adopted a more "feminine" pose, hanging a limp wrist at the end of his upthrust arm, slouching slightly, and eventually trading the military uniform for a dress. By the end, he was staging himself in the confined space of his artist's flat.

Beuys was clearly a showman and a bit of a huckster, but it can't be denied that his style of mixing performance, installation and image had a tremendous influence on Germany's process of coming to terms with its own murderous past. Not bad for a lazy, pretentious fake.
posted by felix betachat at 4:25 PM on July 3, 2007 [3 favorites]


How do you pronounce his name?
posted by Henry C. Mabuse at 4:28 PM on July 3, 2007


Very carefully.
posted by cortex at 4:39 PM on July 3, 2007


henry: yozeff boyss is roughly right.
posted by progosk at 4:44 PM on July 3, 2007


Don Edwards - coyotes. (from Grizzly Man)
posted by vronsky at 4:46 PM on July 3, 2007


love the "i dont git it must be dumb" response to art. Lucky for you, this is your age. the reich always hates modern art.

Beuys had one gig where he took a dead rabbit around a museum explaining each piece, since "a dead rabbit can understand art better than most people."

sounds oddly apt enit?
posted by sarcasman at 4:58 PM on July 3, 2007 [1 favorite]


Asshole.

Don't just say it. Slap some meat on your head on a stage to make some sort of convoluted allegory of my assholishness.
posted by Mayor Curley at 5:00 PM on July 3, 2007 [3 favorites]


sarcasman writes "love the 'i dont git it must be dumb' response to art. Lucky for you, this is your age. the reich always hates modern art."

I get performance art. I still think it's mostly dumb. And I don't hate modern art. There's plenty of great art that is modern. Don't mistake disliking certain fields of art with disliking art which is modern. That's what the Reich always does.
posted by Bugbread at 5:24 PM on July 3, 2007 [2 favorites]


I think Beuys was at heart a damn good teacher.

And yea, Mayor Curley .... relax, no one cares how you feel.
posted by RMD at 5:29 PM on July 3, 2007


I just don't like the label. Performance art. That's like saying "Statue Art" or "Painting Art." Let's just call it "performance."

This particular piece doesn't turn my crank. But I have seen performance stuff that is mind blowing.

If anybody remembers the piece at the Henry Art Museum here in Seattle with the one room designed like a burned out church in the jungle and filled with live song birds. There was some dude reading aloud in Spanish. That was way cool.
posted by tkchrist at 5:33 PM on July 3, 2007


> Slap some meat on your head on a stage to make some sort of convoluted allegory of my assholishness.

It's been done. They're all on to something else now.

Get with the times.
posted by ardgedee at 5:43 PM on July 3, 2007 [1 favorite]


BOW-EESE, emphasis on the first syllable

But my apologies to everyone. I should have just done an iPhone post.
posted by bardic at 6:09 PM on July 3, 2007


love the "i dont git it must be dumb" response to art. Lucky for you, this is your age. the reich always hates modern art.

Listne to yourself, "everyone who thinks performance art is pretentious is a dumb nazi, wah wah, people are having an unauthorised reaction to something." You sound like an asshole! Thinking something is crap is just as valid a reaction as wonder, and when people bring out all the "philistine" and 'I guess ipnones are all you sheep can handle,' crap it dosen't make defenders of performance art look less pretentious and defensive.
posted by Snyder at 6:36 PM on July 3, 2007 [1 favorite]


If I spent three days alone in a room with a coyote, no one would care.
posted by ZachsMind at 6:36 PM on July 3, 2007


The iPhone is like dance to me: I respect the fact that it moves and impresses others, but it does nothing for me.

I love the "i dont git it must be dumb" response to the i Phone. Lucky for you, this is your age. the reich always hates modern art.

Slap some meat on your head on a stage to make some sort of convoluted allegory of my assholishness.

It's been done. They're all on to the iPhone now.

Get with the times.


This post is far better than an iPhone post.
posted by oneirodynia at 6:40 PM on July 3, 2007 [1 favorite]


Oh, don't let the bastards get you down. Beuys isn't exactly common trade, however horrifying that may be, and it's a mid-week national holiday States-side.

Besides, I woulda deleted an iPhone post.
posted by cortex at 6:40 PM on July 3, 2007



Don Edwards - coyotes. (from Grizzly Man)


Vronksky wins. Ordinarily I mostly listen to industrial music, but that is the best song ever, and for once I'm not being sarcastic.

Hoo-yip, indeed, old friends. Hoo-yip, indeed.
posted by infinitywaltz at 6:47 PM on July 3, 2007


If I spent three days alone in a room with a coyote, no one would care.

Don't be so hard on yourself. The coyote would care.
posted by infinitywaltz at 6:48 PM on July 3, 2007


That's why Beuys is one of my heroes, really. For a guy who, as a young man, flew Stukas for the Nazis, he arrived at an incredibly democratic notion of what art is and who it's for. He really did like America in ways that ten thousand people with yellow-flag bumper-stickers never will.

So, happy birthday America. You've seen some hard times as of late, but I still love you.
posted by bardic at 6:53 PM on July 3, 2007


The coyote would care.

It would only care after it had eaten me, and started getting heartburn.
posted by ZachsMind at 7:06 PM on July 3, 2007


Lucky for you, this is your age. the reich always hates modern art.

You are absolutely the most condescending Kunstreptil I've ever heard of. Your plays must be as subtle as my farts, even though they make allusions to books that nobody else has read, music that nobody else had heard, and art that nobody else has seen.

I hope you choke on your imported cigarettes or get some bad smack.
posted by Mayor Curley at 7:52 PM on July 3, 2007


Ouch Mayor Curley. Don't hold back man, you'll get an aneurism.
posted by ZachsMind at 7:57 PM on July 3, 2007


Kunstreptil. Great, theres another word I have to look up.
I also read the end of Mayor Curley's post as "bad snack" and was surprised at his cruelty.
posted by Iron Rat at 8:00 PM on July 3, 2007


C'mon guys, give Mayor Curley a break. Lots of people love Thomas Kinkade, "Painter of Light." I mean, he sells a lot of stuff, so he must be a good artist, amirite?
posted by bardic at 8:08 PM on July 3, 2007 [1 favorite]


Hey Mayor Curley, Starch The Forensic Underwear!
posted by vronsky at 8:47 PM on July 3, 2007


Man, shitty reception. Y'all should check out the Jodorowsky post uppage.

I really like Beuys, though I once had to ask a docent how to pronounce his name.

Is it just my perception, or is he much better known and well-respected in the UK and Europe than in the US?
posted by mr_roboto at 8:51 PM on July 3, 2007


Is it just my perception, or is he much better known and well-respected in the UK and Europe than in the US?

It's not just you. He's an interesting guy, though I've got to be honest, my major reaction to this post wasn't so much "Wow, this is a brilliantly subversive piece of performance art" so much as "Aw, what a cute little coyote! Who's a good puppy?! You are! Oh yes, you are!"

Of course, I am a cynophilist.
posted by infinitywaltz at 9:20 PM on July 3, 2007


I'm fairly ambivalent towards 'Aht, dahling', and hate coyotes almost as much as I hate iPhone ads, uh, I mean, FPPs, but danged if I don't find this interesting.
Thanks, bardic!
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 9:48 PM on July 3, 2007


"to make some sort of convoluted allegory of my assholishness."

No convoluted allegory needed Mayor, you're a straight up asshole of the first order. Plain and simple.
posted by vronsky at 10:10 PM on July 3, 2007


infinitywaltz writes "'Aw, what a cute little coyote! Who's a good puppy?! You are! Oh yes, you are!'"

To be absolutely honest, that was my initial reaction as well. What a cutie!
posted by mr_roboto at 10:38 PM on July 3, 2007


Slap some meat on your head on a stage to make some sort of convoluted allegory of my assholishness.

Hopefully I could think of something with a bit more imagination.

How about this. I stick a pogo stick up my ass, which has handles, which I bounce around on in an attempt to convey that, as an asshole, I'm constantly getting people to fuck me.

There are also tables all about the stage, covered with the finest tea sets in the world (need to waste money somewhere), served with biscuits. The teapots are filled with urine. The cookies have some sort of mystery ingredient.

As I bounce around on a pogo stick, I grab the teapots and smash them, while eating the biscuits, and then forcing myself to vomit them. In that way I am indicating that I am not a dick, but very much in fact an asshole.

Take that Allman brothers.
posted by Alex404 at 11:15 PM on July 3, 2007 [2 favorites]


I bet the response to this thread would've been very different if the post had mentioned Beuys' famous 1974 collaboration with Buckminster-Fuller, or one of his lecture-based actions.

Also, those who dislike performance work shouldn't be put off Beuys - his vitrines full of fat and felt are hugely powerful, beautiful things.
posted by jack_mo at 2:19 AM on July 4, 2007


How about this. I stick a pogo stick up my ass, which has handles, which I bounce around on in an attempt to convey that, as an asshole, I'm constantly getting people to fuck me.

There are also tables all about the stage, covered with the finest tea sets in the world (need to waste money somewhere), served with biscuits. The teapots are filled with urine. The cookies have some sort of mystery ingredient.


Very, very good.
posted by Mayor Curley at 3:22 AM on July 4, 2007


C'mon guys, give Mayor Curley a break. Lots of people love Thomas Kinkade, "Painter of Light."

Is he a Soviet Nonconformist? Because I enjoy those.
posted by Mayor Curley at 3:26 AM on July 4, 2007


Beuys rocks.
You don't like him that's fine, but to look at a lot of his work, I mean, a LOT is to recognize that even if you still don't like it, the guy worked really hard and had some pretty grand ideas.

Nice post.
posted by From Bklyn at 4:06 AM on July 4, 2007


Mayor Curley writes "Your plays must be as subtle as my farts, even though they make allusions to books that nobody else has read, music that nobody else had heard, and art that nobody else has seen."

He can't help it, because he is so much more intelligent and well-rounded than everyone who surrounds him.
posted by Bugbread at 6:28 AM on July 4, 2007 [1 favorite]


BOW-EESE, emphasis on the first syllable

You give completely wrong information about pronunciation, and then you have the nerve to mock people who don't appreciate your favorite genius?
posted by languagehat at 6:33 AM on July 4, 2007


Boose?
posted by Flashman at 8:37 AM on July 4, 2007


Bays?
Bize?
posted by Flashman at 8:38 AM on July 4, 2007


Beuys will be Beuys.
posted by Grangousier at 9:06 AM on July 4, 2007


Maybe it makes me a stupid American, but my first reaction to this was to worry about the coyote.
posted by emmastory at 9:27 AM on July 4, 2007


progosk nailed it.
posted by languagehat at 10:07 AM on July 4, 2007


His Filz-TV is actually quite funny.
posted by progosk at 10:23 AM on July 4, 2007


wow.

i'm so disappointed in this thread: i'm shocked people don't know about Beuys - this guy has got to be, and is recognised as such over here in euroville, as one the great artists of the 20th century - not just for his astonishing sculpture work and performance pieces - but for his commitment to education / liberating power of enlightenment values - this guy is an art hero to many 10's of thousands of working artists across the globe and is still one of the world's most famous artists - i never thought of metafilter as being out of the loop/provincial but sheeesh.
posted by jettloe at 10:53 AM on July 4, 2007


Ah yes. Ran across some of his sculptures at the Tate. Thought they were terrible. I pretty much can't stand performance art either - I agree with mayor curley completely. But thanks for expanding my knowledge about him anyway.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 11:44 AM on July 4, 2007


Don't be that way jettloe, it's a big world with lots of data and facts to learn and remember. Don't castigate people because they may not be aware of all you are aware of. I don't think it is fair to condemn other people to the ranks of the out-of-the-loop-people when they cannot keep their awareness about every significant person and all significant events in this enormous world. To be a rennaissance person today is impossible.
posted by Catfry at 1:11 PM on July 4, 2007


i'm so disappointed in this thread: i'm shocked people don't know about Beuys

Do you have any backup for that? Because I don't see any evidence in this thread that "people don't know about Beuys." I, for one, have known about Beuys for decades; I just don't care for his art (though I do like his hat). Are we not allowed to have our own tastes? Sheesh yourself.
posted by languagehat at 1:13 PM on July 4, 2007


languagehat wrties You give completely wrong information about pronunciation, and then you have the nerve to mock people who don't appreciate your favorite genius?

Having seen some of his work in Germany, Bow-Eese is a pretty accurate pronunciation. Of course, I was offering something of a layman's transcription. Unlike you, I'm not so desperately inadequate in my sense of intellectual competence that I need to constantly browbeat people with my pedantry.

Anyways, I was pretty much joking early on. De gustibus etc., Beuys obviously isn't for everyone. I think he's an incredibly "fun" artist myself, despite the Nazi past and the relative austerity of some of his stuff, so here's my 4th of July post. Not a big deal, and as documented in the clip (which nobody seems to have watched), people were questioning the validity and "authenticity" of his work even his own day. That's party of his point -- he wanted a conversation, and we get one, yet again. I just wish certain people had at least given it a chance, rather than storming in and proclaiming tired platitudes they learned from others -- "Performance art is like dancing" or some similar tepid bullshit masquerading as "insight."

But to see your bloated ego continuing to thread-crap? Once again, the fat-guy-bitching-about-the-food-at-sizzler syndrome that you've come to epitomize. Go fuck yourself. Your act got tired a long time ago. As I've mentioned before, knowing how to do searches with an OED online does not an "expert" make (although I'm surprised it continues to impress anyone).

Anyways, best you go grab cortex now.
posted by bardic at 2:04 PM on July 4, 2007 [2 favorites]


party = part, but a Beuys party would be something to behold
posted by bardic at 2:06 PM on July 4, 2007


To be a rennaissance person today is impossible.

Agreed, but to be the hurf-durfing thread-crapping noise-machine shouldn't be a valid option either.
posted by bardic at 2:08 PM on July 4, 2007


re: Catfry's comment - sure we can't be aware of everything going on - but this guy is considered one the top artists of the 20c - guess i thought that people here would be a little more rounded - knowing at least a little something in a variety of spheres of knowledge - i'm not being an asshole here - i'm genuinely really surprised!

re: languagehat's comment - i think people here don't know about Beuys because if they did, even though they might not like specific pieces of his, there would be a lot more respect for the huge amount of inspirational teaching he did - he's inspired generations of artists everywhere.
posted by jettloe at 4:08 PM on July 4, 2007


Who's grabbing the what now?
posted by cortex at 4:20 PM on July 4, 2007


Grabbing the cortex?

That's a paddlin.
posted by vronsky at 4:50 PM on July 4, 2007


i think people here don't know about Beuys because if they did, even though they might not like specific pieces of his, there would be a lot more respect for the huge amount of inspirational teaching he did - he's inspired generations of artists everywhere.

No offense, but you're way too close to the subject to have any perspective. "Knowing about" an artist (or anyone else) is not equivalent to "knowing everything about their activity and influence," much less "appreciating them the way their most rabid fans do." I think I know as much about Beuys as any general reader without a special interest in performance art could be expected to; I've read accounts of his performances, seen pictures of him and his work, and read appreciations by those who get more out of it than I do. You just have to accept the fact that one can know about Beuys (or anyone else) and still not "appreciate" him, no matter how many artists he's inspired. "To know him is to love him" is a song lyric, not real life.

*grabs cortex, tweaks*
posted by languagehat at 5:06 PM on July 4, 2007


bardic - do you mean BOW-EESE like David Bowie or Little Bow Wow?
posted by vronsky at 5:37 PM on July 4, 2007


The best approximation in 'Mericun English would be something like "Boyce," kinda like WEB DuBois is supposed to be pronounced, without the first syllable, or the town of Boise, without the second syllable.
posted by bardic at 5:46 PM on July 4, 2007


REAL artists don't need names.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 6:17 PM on July 4, 2007


I've never heard of Beuys, and I gather I should be ashamed. I honestly can't stand any kind of performance art, so I tried to find some of his sculptures pictured online.

I found several sites that told me he was "the most influential" modern artist this century, so that must be true, but the sculptures I saw didn't provoke any kind of reaction from me other than, "huh."

I realize that it is hard to feel the full glory of, say, Michelangelo's David from simply seeing images of it online, but one can still respect the obvious skill involved...

So, sorry, I'm still not a fan of Beuys.
posted by misha at 6:35 PM on July 4, 2007


the coyote is cute, though.
posted by misha at 6:36 PM on July 4, 2007


First off, to put the pronunciation issue to bed, I'm friendly with some of his ex-students (who are getting on in age) and in English or in German, they refer to him as "Boyss," more or less.

As for anyone who "gets" or "doesn't get" Beuys just by looking at his work, let me suggest that there's a lot of things that are different in life than on your little laptop screen. It's not about what these things look like-- including his retreat with the coyote.

To put Beuys in some context, think about a country that was emerging out of the ruinous effects of fascism, rabid nationalism, war, and systematic civilian bombing. From this came Beuys with the idea that part of what had gone wrong was that we had gone too far away from the earth as earth.

His work with animals, stone, fat, and honey were a radical proposal for the world at the time, trans-national, future-facing, embracing dirt and life instead of the antiseptic grids of 20th c. modernism. There are reasons that the Green Party emerged from post-war Western Germany, and there are reasons why it's important there even today. Beuys is one of those reasons.

The piece with the coyote happens to be performative, but it's nuts to dismiss it as "performance art." It was done in part to do what it is doing, which is transmit ideas into the future. He planted oak trees -- some of which are here in New York City -- to do the same.

The ideas behind the coyote piece include something to do with the rewards of contemplation. It's ironic that the piece has now entered into a bitstream that is pretty much antithetical to same.
posted by cloudscratcher at 10:56 PM on July 4, 2007 [3 favorites]


I found several sites that told me he was "the most influential" modern artist this century, so that must be true, but the sculptures I saw didn't provoke any kind of reaction from me other than, "huh."

If you think you can judge it by looking at photos on the web, you've missed the entire bloody point of sculpture as an artform.
posted by jack_mo at 1:49 AM on July 5, 2007 [1 favorite]


I've never heard of Beuys... so I tried to find some of his sculptures pictured online.

Yeah, that is not going to give you much pleasure. Pr0n looks good online, and text sometimes reads well online, but, uh, actual, hand-made art almost never, ever looks good anywhere except in the flesh.

Years ago I had a friend who "Took great slides" of her work. As a result she got lots of grants and residencies but her work never lived up and any ideas she might have thought she was addressing were almost invariably lost in the poor production. No gallery would show her. Not even the summer-we'll-show-anyone-group-shows. But man, she took great slides. {Years later, her production caught up, thank god, but that's ultimately about something else.}

Beuys' work, apart from all the historical and sociological and academic and theoretical associations, can still have tremendous impact. But almost only ever in the flesh, and certainly not all of it (some of it leaves me cold, but hey, we all have off days). And for christ's sake if you don't like it, big fucking deal. There's always Thomas KinkadeJustkidding.

But seriously, Beuys' ideas about art are really interesting and there's lots to be had there, but he's not the only artist or the only person offering up his opinion of the 20th century, and it means a lot of reading and thinking and frankly, maybe your interests lie elseware. Nothing wrong with that.
posted by From Bklyn at 4:52 AM on July 5, 2007 [1 favorite]


Oh, and I thought this would nicely fit the bill when I read "Slap some meat on your head on a stage" but was in a hurry at the time. The following link is for Mayor Curley: yumyumyum it is NSFW at all.

(It's flash, but go to "aktionen", and then "OMT1960-70" It is NSFW. It involves meat. If you can read German, I'm sure you'll find the text fascinating and informative and in fact, maybe even life changing. and then again you might not)
posted by From Bklyn at 5:06 AM on July 5, 2007


I do understand that one can't really get the full impact of an artist's work when viewed solely through the lens of a notebook's monitor. But I think that the impression his art has on others, at least from what I am hearing, is influenced greatly by a knowledge of where he comes from and what he is trying to say, and I don't come armed with that fore-knowledge.

Sure, that is my failing. But it also speaks to the art itself; I don't have to know the background of my favorite artists to immediately fall into the spell of their work; rather, it is the impact their works have on me personally which causes me to want to find out more about the men and women themselves.

Still, I would like to see more of this man's work in an appropriate venue. I would frankly like to see more support of the arts, in every form, in America today, and if this man can help lead to that happening, more power to Beuys.
posted by misha at 11:45 AM on July 5, 2007


Oh, and I thought this would nicely fit the bill when I read "Slap some meat on your head on a stage" but was in a hurry at the time. The following link is for Mayor Curley: yumyumyum it is NSFW at all.

See, I thought you were going to link to Carolee Schneemann.
posted by bardic at 2:25 PM on July 5, 2007


(oh, that link is also nsfw)
posted by bardic at 2:26 PM on July 5, 2007


This thread cries out for a link to loquacious's story of sleeping with coyotes in the desert, which was linked in a recent thread I can't remember.

It's good, check it out. Numerous people in that thread were amazed and really liked it (including me). I'm not kidding.
posted by marble at 3:07 PM on July 5, 2007


Liked Beuys ever since hearing about the rabbit thing in Art-101 - I think it's kinda ironic that people think beating on his work is rallying against some kind of art-elitism, when he seems to spent most of his effort taking arms against the art-elitism that came before him.

And anybody who can't see an allegory between (a weekend near-naked in a room with a wild animal) and (visiting the USA) has probably not spent any time in the US poor. :S
posted by Orb2069 at 11:38 AM on July 6, 2007


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