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拍品专文
German-Jewish artist Jörg Immendorff was born in Lower Saxony in 1945, and from a young age bore direct witness to the tragedies and strife of the political landscape in Germany and Western Europe, which shaped his own politics, activism and artistic practice. In 1963, Immendorff began his studies at the Academy in Düsseldorf, where he was mentored by renowned German artist and theorist Joseph Beuys, the founder of the Neo-Dada movement Fluxus. The Academy would soon after expel Immendorff for his left-wing political activities and radical, counter-cultural artistic practice which was laden with critical commentary of Nazism and the government establishment. As a member of several student activist groups, Immendorf was heavily involved in protests and acts of counter-cultural performances, including in 1968, where the artist was arrested for defaming the German flag outside of the West German Parliament in Bonn. Even after Immendorff’s expulsion, Beuys remained a guiding voice in his politically charged, Neo-Dadaist artwork.
The present work, in fact, is a meditation on Beuy’s famed performance piece from 1965 entitled How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare, or Wie man dem toten Hasen die Bilder erklärt, its original German title. In How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare, Beuys, wearing a mask made of gold-leaf and honey, gave a 3 hour-long tour of a private gallery space to a taxidermized hare, while onlookers witnessed the performance through the gallery’s front windows. For Beuys, the recurring motif of the hare was a commentary on the human condition in the political climate of Germany at the time. Beuys is quoted “Even a dead animal preserves more powers of intuition than some human beings with their stubborn rationality. Human thinking was capable of achieving so much, but it could also be intellectualized to a deadly degree, and remain dead and express its deadliness in the political and pedagogical fields.” In Immendorff’s oeuvre, and as evidenced in the present work, the inclusion of politically charged-symbolism and historical references reflect not only his experience growing up German-Jewish in close proximity to the World War II era and Nazism, but are used as tool of rebellion and explicit political commentary in tandem with the artist’s involvement as an activist and educator. The present work is a continuation of the artist’s Café Deustchland series from 1977 to 1982, in which the opposing ideologies of East and West Germany are represented on a metaphorical stage. In the present work, Café Deustchland is transformed into a theater—and the artist himself is rendered, his body distorted and with a paint brush in hand, bearing witness to an onslaught of symbols and figures which mark the political strife of his upbringing on display. Much like Beuys’ symbol-laden performance works, Immendorff’s use of historical and political symbols are interpreted as direct commentary and critique of the tragedies and political unrest of Western Germany, as well as a call to action for the witnesses and spectators as active participants.
The present work, in fact, is a meditation on Beuy’s famed performance piece from 1965 entitled How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare, or Wie man dem toten Hasen die Bilder erklärt, its original German title. In How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare, Beuys, wearing a mask made of gold-leaf and honey, gave a 3 hour-long tour of a private gallery space to a taxidermized hare, while onlookers witnessed the performance through the gallery’s front windows. For Beuys, the recurring motif of the hare was a commentary on the human condition in the political climate of Germany at the time. Beuys is quoted “Even a dead animal preserves more powers of intuition than some human beings with their stubborn rationality. Human thinking was capable of achieving so much, but it could also be intellectualized to a deadly degree, and remain dead and express its deadliness in the political and pedagogical fields.” In Immendorff’s oeuvre, and as evidenced in the present work, the inclusion of politically charged-symbolism and historical references reflect not only his experience growing up German-Jewish in close proximity to the World War II era and Nazism, but are used as tool of rebellion and explicit political commentary in tandem with the artist’s involvement as an activist and educator. The present work is a continuation of the artist’s Café Deustchland series from 1977 to 1982, in which the opposing ideologies of East and West Germany are represented on a metaphorical stage. In the present work, Café Deustchland is transformed into a theater—and the artist himself is rendered, his body distorted and with a paint brush in hand, bearing witness to an onslaught of symbols and figures which mark the political strife of his upbringing on display. Much like Beuys’ symbol-laden performance works, Immendorff’s use of historical and political symbols are interpreted as direct commentary and critique of the tragedies and political unrest of Western Germany, as well as a call to action for the witnesses and spectators as active participants.