Fluxus and Joseph Beuys

In a similar, but still different, light of DaDa, Fluxus was a group of artists designers and musicians that had their own goals in mind.  In their own words from their Manifesto,

"Promote a revolutionary flood and tide in art, promote living art, anti-art, promote non art reality, to be fully grasped by all peoples, not only critics dilettantes and professionals."

The artists involved in the movement (although they would not call it so, rather preferring to call it an "attitude"), who some say died with it's founder George Maciunas in 1978, liked to promote a "do-it-yourself" attitude towards art and used what they had at hand. Even though mostly regarded as an Art period, the group actually started gathering at a music class in New York.

Much like the Fluxus and DaDa time periods, I find the story of Joseph Beuys more than the actual works that they produce. Born in pre WW-II Germany, Beuys served under Hitler in the Great War and even received a medal for being wounded in combat. However, an even that happened in the field of combat would change him forever, even question his loyalty.

According to Beuys, after his plane was shot down over the German-Russian boarder and the German patrols stopped looking for him, he was rescued by local Russian townies. They found him buried in the snow three days later and would wrap him in felt blankets and apparently covered his body in fat to keep him warm. Even though this story may not be entirely true, as it was the account of a man who had just been through a plane crash in which he suffered major head wounds, it would be a very interesting window in which to see the influence this experience played in his future works of art, many of which consisted of covering things in felt.

Both have great background stories, but their art takes some getting used to. Call me old fashioned, but I just don't typically enjoy a lot of their works. Beuys was interesting and original, but I guess growing up in the world of Modern Art a lot of the "shock value" is lost, if that's what they were going for in the first place. I like the idea of "I like America and America likes me" is very intreguing, but the reasoning behind it a little confusing. The only thing he wanted to interact with in America was a coyote? Maybe I'm just missing something.