Covers Title

Covers Title

Monday, August 1, 2016

Das Sprechen von Joseph Beuys, Cover Nr. 31, July, 2001



This is "Covers" work Nr. 31 --- ink and gouache on paper. 21 x 15 cm / 8.25 in x 6 in. Dated July, 2001. "Das Sprechen von Joseph Beuys wird überbewertet!" ("The Words of Jospeh Beuys are Overvalued!")  "Deismal: das Geheimnis der Eurasia-Landbrücke von einer von Beuys Boys!" ("This Time: The Secret of teh Eurasia-Landbridge from One of Beuys's Beuys!") Price "Uu-viele CHFr." ("ooooh- a lot of Swiss Francs.") In the company box: "A Personal Neo-Fluxus / F.I.U. Boondocks Zeichnung." My signature mimics his.

I am an admirer of the artist Joseph Beuys, I even built an installation and did a performance of his at his behest at ISU. I was riffing here on his famous performance where he says the same about Marcel Duchamp's Silence. The interesting part is that i did a latter version of this on one of his woodblock postcards as well. Anyway, other German-speaking fans of Beuys who saw either of the two works were irate with me about it! They felt it was correct to for Beuys to criticize Duchamp, but that Beuys cannot be criticized. I, of course, was criticizing both as well as honoring them by staying within the dialogue, making an homage. Amusing. One as an artist gets either detractions or exaggerated nobility, rather than real understanding and thoughtfulness. He is and was a great artist, not a saint. Stop quoting him emptily and start treating art itself with the value he did.