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Joseph Beuys

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Performance Artist

The Resume

    (May 12, 1921-January 23, 1986)
    Born in Krefeld, Germany
    Performance artist, sculptor, graphic artist and installation artist
    Member of the Fluxus artists network
    Performances include 'How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare' (1965), 'Infiltration Homogen for Piano' (1966), 'Celtic+' (1971) and 'I Like America and America Likes Me' (1974)
    Organized the '7,000 Oaks' project to plant 7,000 oak trees, each accompanied by a basalt marker, in Kassel, Germany (1982-87)
    Founding member of the German Green Party (1979)

Why he might be annoying:

    He volunteered for the German Luftwaffe during World War II.
    He constantly blurred fact and fiction in talking about his life.
    Most famously, he claimed that after his bomber was shot down over the Crimea, he was rescued by Tartars, who slathered fat on him for his burns and wrapped him in felt to keep him warm -- inspiring his frequent use of fat and felt in his artwork.
    In reality, he was found by a German search team and recovered in a military hospital.
    He would deliver twelve hour long lectures.
    He preferred being called a shaman rather than an artist.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He was wounded in action five times.
    As a result of the bomber crash, he ended up with a steel plate in his head and scars on his face from burns.
    He was one of the first German artists to explore the nation's uneasiness with its Nazi past.
    One of his art performances in Aachen was interrupted by a group of students, one of whom punched him in the nose (1964).
    He said, 'Everyone can be an artist' and 'Even the act of peeling a potato can be a work of art if it is a conscious act.'
    He was named one of the most influential artists of the 20th century by ARTNews.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 14 Votes: 71.43% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 8 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 13 Votes: 53.85% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 17 Votes: 52.94% Annoying