Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Joseph Beuys



 




Painting By Andy Warhol Of Joseph Beuys

Joseph Beuys is one of the most well known German artists who was very influential during the 20th century, which has inspired many artists today simply because of his creativity and his work. Joseph was born in 1921 and passed away by 1986. When he was a fighter pilot in the army, he had an accident and almost died but because of the help of fat and fleet, Joseph survived. These two materials later became important features in the Joseph's work. Before becoming an artist, Joseph practiced medicine during the 1940s. He was inspired by The main concepts that Joseph includes in his work is anthropology, humanism, and social philosophy. For four years, Joseph studied sculpting in an art academy. In 1961, Joseph was introduced to the Fluxus movement during an event. Joseph had also experienced many types of drugs, alcohol, sex..etc. Under the influence of drugs, Joseph killed his wife trying to aim the gun on the glass on her head. When reading about the beat generation, i felt that the Fluxus movement was similar, they were both very artistic and do not sound like the usual society during their time. They have both influenced and inspired thousands of people around the world and you can simply see it in people's art. While watching his performance arts video in class i found it very bizarre, but while i was thinking of my piece it was something that was very personal to me and I wouldn't expect anybody to understand. Art really is a beautiful way to express one's feeling or emotions and I believe that is exactly what these artists were doing during the 20th century, simply thinking out of the box. 



How to Explain Paintings to a Dead Hare 1965


Infiltration homogine pour piano a queue


I Like America and America Likes Me 1974


Animal Woman 1949

The Beat Generation*






When referring to the beat generation or the "hip generation", we refer to the women and men writers, thinkers, philosophers that were forming groups in San Francisco after WW2. These groups of people changed a lot of things during the 1940s, the beat generation threw out old cultural traditions and introduced new ones that has affected a large amount of the population within the US and other countries as well. This group faced a lot during the war and many people believe that this group was formed due to the war. The beat generation also introduced new rules of literature, sex, religion, and many other important aspects in our lives. The beat generation had influence on all of the arts. Jack Kerouac , a famous writer at the time was found as a king of the beat generation at that time. It was Jack who came up with the term "beat" for the generation which derived from the word "beatific" & "beautiful". Jack and the rest of his group explored New York and experimented with many things such as drugs, girls, alcohol, and everything they thought was rebellious at their time.  People were just bored of their daily repeated routines and wanted change. By the 1960s, the hippies took over the beat generation. Jack Kerouac died in 1969 after he left the beat group. Many people know about the beat generation because of the book that he has published "On The Road" which explains their experiences and what different things the group had done after the war in Times Square.