In the 1974 action I like America and America likes Me, he spent three days with a coyote, revered as sacred by native North Americans, at René Block's New York gallery. Beuys involved the animal in his action because he saw in it the former spiritual energy of Native Americans, as well as their expulsion. Beuys said, "Warum arbeite ich mit Tieren, um unsichtbare Kräfte auszudrücken? - Man kann diese Energien sehr deutlich machen, wenn man ein anderes, längst vergesseneses Reich betritt, in dem unermeßliche Kräfte als große Persönlichkeiten überleben. Und wenn ich versuche, mit den spirituellen Wesen dieser Gesamtheit von Tieren zu sprechen, wirft das die Frage auf, ob man nicht auch mit den höheren Wesen, diesen Gottheiten und Elementargeistern sprechen kann [...] Der Geist des Kojoten ist so mächtig, dass ihn kein Mensch versteht oder was er für die Zukunft der Menschheit bedeuten kann. [...] Ich glaube, ich hatte Kontakt mit dem psychologisch wunden Punkt in der Energieverteilung der USA: Das ganze amerikanische Trauma mit den Indianern, dem 'Roten Mann'. Man könnte sagen, dass noch eine Rechnung mit dem Kojoten zu begleichen ist, erst dann kann dieses Trauma aufgehoben werden." I like America and America likes Me began in Düsseldorf with Beuys' departure for New York and ended with his return to Düsseldorf. Upon arrival at John F. Kennedy Airport, Beuys had himself completely wrapped in felt because, as he himself said, he "did not want to see anything of America and wanted to isolate himself from the outside world. " He was then taken by ambulance to the gallery , where he planned to spend several days in a room in the gallery with a coyote named "Little John." During the action, Beuys played with the coyote dressed as a shepherd with a shepherd's staff and a felt cape, had the animal take off its coat and stacked copies of the Wall Street Journal newspaper during the action. The coyote preferred to seek a spot on the newspapers and occasionally urinated on them. All that remained for Beuys were the straw, strips of felt, the shepherd's crook and a triangle, which he occasionally used. The coyote, who at first was aggressive and afraid, gained more and more confidence in him during the operation, creating a relationship between man and animal. By way of farewell, Beuys hugged the prairie wolf and scattered the straw on which the two shared their bed around the room. The artist was then re-wrapped in felt and taken back to the airport in an ambulance, having never seen America except for the coyote, the copies of the Wall Street Journal and the gallery space. Beuys later said he wanted to see nothing but this coyote, because this animal, hated by whites, could also be seen as an angel.
Information from:
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_like_America_and_America_likes_Me
10 framed photographs. 1974. One photograph signed. Photolithography printed in various colors of ink on paper. Published by Edition Staeck, Heidelberg (the original folder is in one of the frames). Dimensions 10.4*14.7 cm. Frames approx 15*20 cm.
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Biography
Joseph Beuys (1921-1986)
From 1946-1953, Beuys studies sculpture at the Düsseldorf Art Academy. In 1947/ he is taught by Ewald Mataré who is considered one of the most important artists of classical modernism in Germany. In 1951, Beuys was appointed Meisterschüler (master’s student) by Mataré. Mataré’s classes discussed the work of Rudolf Steiner. Mataré oriented himself to the old Bauhütten ideals and did not believe in Steiner’s teachings. Steiner’s essay Kernpunkte der sozialen Frage has a formative influence on Beuys. Written in 1919, it concerns ideas about a radical reform of social life. Steiner distinguishes three areas of life in society: culture (spiritual life), law and economic life. Each area has its own organizing principle. Cultural life must be able to develop in freedom, in legal life equality is necessary, and in economic life cooperation rather than competition must be the guiding principle. Steiner’s essay is a key text for Beuys’ later ideas on social sculpture (art whose purpose is to exert a formative influence on society).
From 1951 to 1958, Beuys makes more craft assignments (tombstones, memorials). In 1961 Beuys was appointed professor of monumental sculpture at the Düsseldorf Art Academy, a position he held until 1974. He soon made a name for himself with sensational actions that had nothing to do with classical sculpture. In 1963 he co-organized the festival Festum Fluxorum, Musik Und Antimusik – Das Instrumentelle Theater (Fluxus was a movement from the early 1960s that wanted to dissolve the boundaries between different disciplines and merge art and life) at the Düsseldorf Art Academy. Beuys’ ideas often clashed with those of other members of the Fluxus movement. For example, Beuys rarely involved the public in his performances, unlike his colleagues. However, the performance aspect of Fluxus significantly expanded Beuys’ artistic activities, and his interest in music and sound as part of the language of art developed greatly in the context of Fluxus. He began experimenting with unconventional materials such as felt and grease in 1958. Along with materials such as beeswax, copper and stones, these would become trademarks of his work. These materials had symbolic meaning and were often associated with his own biography. For example, felt and fat were used in reference to the plane crash he survived during World War II. He survived the plane crash on the frozen Crimean peninsula in Ukraine because someone wrapped him in felt and an insulating layer of animal fat. As a result of this experience, these materials became recurring motifs in his works, symbolizing warmth. They also symbolize spiritual warmth, the emergence of change and/or a spiritual awakening.
As an art school professor, Beuys developed the idea of “Sozialen Plastik”; he viewed education as an art form and believed that art could be a transformative force in society. His classes discussed politics and involved his students in discussions of social issues. Part of his theories on freedom and democracy included the production of multiples. With his multiples, Beuys hoped his art and his ideas would reach a large number of people. In doing so, he often used everyday materials and dull colors, believing that they would evoke a colorful world in the viewer.
In the 1970s, Beuys became increasingly politically active. He founded the “German Student Party,” and his work often reflected his activism and addressed issues such as German reunification and reconciliation.
In the 1980s, Joseph Beuys was concerned with ecological issues and the relationship between man and nature. The project 7000 Eichen that started at Documenta 7 in Kassel in 1982 provided for the planting of 7,000 trees, each with a columnar basalt stone about four feet high in the city of Kassel. The last tree was planted at the opening of Documenta 8 in 1987. Beuys wanted the Kassel project to be the first phase in an ongoing plan of tree planting that would extend around the world as part of a global mission to bring about ecological and social change. Actions, such as 7000 Eichen, were intended to promote environmentalism.
Joseph Beuys was active in many areas: he made paintings and drawings, objects and installations in the traditional artistic sense, he made progressive work and performances, he was engaged in art theory and education, and he was engaged in socio-political activities. Throughout his career, he continued to question conventions and explore new territories. As a result, Beuys became an icon of contemporary art.
Information from:
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Beuys
https://amyk.ensembles.org/ensembles/fluxus-fluxus-fluxus-fluxus?desktop=1&detail=on
https://www.p55.art/de/blogs/p55-magazine/wer-war-der-deutsche-kunstler-joseph-beuys?srsltid=AfmBOoqYd5dYxD_pvW9c3AqFsbhGuRYh3kWWbS457g7q7diy-JRwGZ6v
