This is a photo I took of an installation by one of my most admired artists Joseph Beuys. Here we see a portion of an art-work called Plight (1985) and is currently installed at The Pompidou Centre in Paris where I encountered this work. We see a blackboard and thermometer atop a piano which is placed in a room completely lined with rolls of grey felt. You enter the room through a small door which you must stoop down to go through. Once inside you are overcome with a sense of warmth, the room being much hotter due to the insulation.
Felt is an important and reoccurring theme in Beuys' works; the story goes that when Beuys was a German aircraft pilot in the second world war he was shot down over the Dolomites (a section of The Alps) and was rescued by a group of nomads who covered his body in animal fat and then felt in order to keep him warm and thus surviving. Fat therefore is another regular aesthetic and sculptural device. This story has since been discredited but it is an important factor in the explanation of Beuys' sculpture.
Beuys takes ready-made, everyday objects and elevates them to plains of the mythological with constant nods towards the themes of life and death together with regeneration and the political.
Beuys creates allegorical environments to address the world around us and the human condition. Plight by the nature of the word coupled with the felt that lines the walls creates a tension between security and insecurity. The word 'Plight' suggests possible anxiety or instability yet the felt stands to suggest warmth, shelter or protection. The piano as far as I ascertain suggests escapism (in this case through music) although the piano will not make a sound and the lid remains shut; it's attainability jars with the welcoming softness of the walls. The blackboard and thermometer seem to suggest education and the comfort of knowledge, the thermometer physically confirms the warmth, the blackboard is an outlet for understanding.
Here is a link to an audio clip from 1985 of Joseph Beuys talking about the work:
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/audioarts/cd2_8.shtm
Tuesday 19 January 2010
Plight.
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