Joseph Beuys is one of my favorite concept artists. He is the one who teaches me to feel an artwork instead of learning or understanding it, feelings or instincts are the keys to art. In his work “How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare 1965”, there are too many visual elements that are potentially telling ideas and stories. For three hours Beuys sat in a chair, his head smeared with honey and gold dust, the sole of his left foot was felt, the sole of his right foot was steel, holding a dead hare in his arms, mumbling, paintings hanging on the walls; When the door opened and the audience entered the room, Boyce turned his back and said nothing. Even though there is no direct communication between Beuys and audiences, which they were separated by the window and locked door, every single element of this artwork, and also the performance as a whole, is trying to tell its audiences something, trying to convince. However, the dense and tight information does not tell people something specific.
This work reminds us of the limitations of human beings: there is a mystery in all things in the world, in the whole nature, that human beings cannot answer. The mystery is deeply rooted in human nature, but human beings cut it off by reason. Art should be felt, not trying to be understood academically or logically. “The watching in silent” reaction from the audience for 3 hours seems to be the expected reaction to an artpiece Beuys proposed. Nothing else matter but feeling when people come to art. There is no need for “explaining an artwork”
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