Tags: auf  Beuys  Blitzschlag  Glare  Hirsch  in  its  Joseph  Lichtschein  Lightning  mit  Stag  with  
Channel: Film & Animation
Uploaded: December 31, 1969 at 6:59 pm
Author: christiaantonnis
Length: 02:54
Rating: 5.00
Views: 476
Joseph Beuys ~ Lightning with Stag in its Glare: The wedge-shaped object entitled Blitzschlag, over six metres in height from top to bottom, came into being when Beuys cast a segment of the clay mound. The soft clay substance had become a hard metal sculpture. "In fact, the total volume of the mound of clay corresponded to that of Beuys's studio in Düsseldorf." (Johannes Stüttgen) Blitzschlag took on the effect of a relief with extreme plasticity. The thin sheet of cast metal might be the skin shed by the clay mound, but it is also reminiscent of hot, flowing lava that has cooled down and taken on the shape of a sharply outlined continent on a map. In the context of 20th century art, this type of bronze sculpture inevitably reminds us of the work of an artist like Alberto Giacometti. His silhouettes of the human figure bore reference to the relationship between figure and space in much the same way. Giacometti's work also dealt with the synthesis of the figurative and the abstract. Stag Beuys's specific choice of material for casting the Hirsch, namely aluminium, resulted in the figure of the animal obtaining a lustre of its own with its matt silvery gleam. The Hirsch shines out against the darker remainder of the ensemble. "The stag stands there and the stag is not a human being. For the realms of normal consciousness, it is a part of nature. But how will nature continue to have power when every future form of nature will be one made by man?" (Joseph Beuys) The form, abstract in the extreme, is composed of the casts of pieces of ebony wood cut from a tree trunk. The "back" of the animal has been made from a used ironing board. The figure, viewed as a whole, also suggests a sled-like vehicle. The stag, one of a herd, is associated with the cooler Northern European landscape. It is already a favourite motif in Beuys's early animal drawings. There, it is mostly the dead stag, which acts as a traditional, art historical reference to Christian iconography. Primordial AnimalsBeuys originally formed the 35 amorphous, primordial shapes, known as "Lehmlinge" (little clay creatures) by hand from the clay mound in Berlin and he grouped them around the stag as if writing a score. The core of every form is composed of everyday tools like spatulas, chisels, screwdrivers etc. The ends of the tools jut out of the bodies like heads. "Clay is a substance of the earth" (Joseph Beuys). In the whole correlation of the composite work, the Urtiere constitute the first stage of a moulded form made from earth, a primary substance, from which early signs of civilisation (tools) are already sprouting. In addition, they embody the strongest element of movement in the room. Goat One other animal in this composite work is hard to imagine represented by the three-wheeled iron cart with the cast of a pickaxe on top of it. The pick and the stem form the head and the contour of the Ziege's back. In addition, the pickaxe has been secured and earthed to its mobile support by bands of metal. It can be compared to the most famous reinterpretation of found objects in modern art: Picasso's Tête de taureau, dating from 1942. Picasso had made the head of the bull out of the leather saddle and handlebars of a bicycle, which were then cast in bronze. When Picasso was asked about the work after completing it, he answered: "This is not enough. One should only have to take a piece of wood that could already be a bird." Boothia Felix The composite work is completed with the object entitled Boothia Felix. A bronze sculpture has been placed on a three-legged sculptor's modelling plinth. It consists of a cast of earth, interspersed with roots and shards of pottery in the shape of a planter whose wooden sides had been removed. The bottom of the box remains as a base plate. A record of the earth's interior has been created. Beuys placed a small compass on top of this bronze block, which is itself, a sign of the earth's magnetism and orientation. The title of the sculpture refers to the geographical location of the peninsula Boothia Felix on the north coast of America situated near the North Pole at the time of its discovery, at the beginning of the 19th century. The blue end of the compass needle points to the cold pole in the north. It becomes the element of direction and as the smallest component of the whole sculpture; it takes on the role of pivot and central point of the entire ensemble. German text by Mario Kramer / Translation: Jennifer Greitschus