Replying to LO29444 --
Chris,
well, I guess it blew me away too!
> thank you Andrew it blows me away
>
> chris klopper
> "syntagm" <syntagm@icon.co.za>
I could be wrong. complexity ;-) comes from a 'root' meaning of 'woven',
'weaving'. I could be wrong. Women are credited with the exclusive
development of weaving as a technology.
Chris, have you ever seen the nest of the African 'weaver bird'? Have you
ever seen a San child born in the desert as the child is cleaned with the
material of the 'weaver bird'? What a nested affinity. Blew me away ;-)
...snip... into something radical ;-)
The dualities of art as tool and wound are evoked in the doubled
photographs of the multiple Show Your Wound (1977), a simultaneous
allusion to Christ's display of his stigmata and the image of a hospital
radiograph used in World War II, which is incorporated into the work.
Sulphur-Covered Zinc Box (Plugged Corner) (1970), presents sulphur as both
a destructive and healing agent, the gauze stopper in the corner might be
seen as the stanch to a wound. Health Helper (1979), incorporates the sign
of the Red Cross and the Holy Cross with the artist's name, signaling his
dual status as artist and shamanistic transformer. Ultimately, Sled
(1969), with its organic references to spiritual and physical survival in
times of crisis, is Beuys' "emergency kit." It contains bodily sustenance
(fat), spiritual guidance (flashlight), and insulation against the
elements (felt).
Beuys argued that the key to survival was in the collective transformation
of the "social organism." For him, communication between the domains of
the spiritual and the earthly were primary to cultural regeneration. The
print Tramstop (1977) presents a metal cruciform sculpture that serves to
commemorate his hometown, Kleve, where he meditated on the political
actions of Anacharsis Cloots, a local folk hero. Vitex agnus castus
(1973), with its verbal play on Latin for the "Lamb of God," both alludes
to the suffering of Christ and explores the healing properties of the
plant named in the title. Backrest for a Fine-Limbed Person (Hare-Type)
of the 20th Century A.D. (1972) is based on a plaster cast used to treat
a child's spinal disorders, and also refers to rebirth through the hare,
an ancient symbol of fertility.
During the war, Beuys combined his interest in botany with cooking and he
hunted in the fields around his bunker for wild plants, as is illustrated
in the multiple Botanical Madness (1976). Beuys was interested in medieval
chemistry, or alchemy, which was concerned both with the transmutation of
base materials into gold and with finding a universal cure for disease.
His art often incorporates sulphur, gold, zinc, silver, and other
substances that have both medicinal and alchemical applications. The
influence of Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925), founder of anthroposophy, who
combined the activities of spirituality and medicine, homeopathy and
political activity, is evident in Mirror Piece (1975), a painted bottle
containing crystal iodine, which is a topical healing agent and a poison
if taken internally.
The dual aspects of poison and cure are central to the science of
homeopathy. This wedding of chemical and transcendent properties is seen
in the multiple Cuprum 0,3% unguentum metallicum praeparatum (1978-1986),
a beeswax block shot through with copper whose title is the formula for a
homeopathic remedy with which Beuys was treating himself. One of his last
works, the multiple represents somewhat poignantly the dual aspects of
unguent as a medicinal salve and spiritual anointment <end snip>
Love,
Andrew
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