Joseph Beuys

The most interesting aspect that I find about Joseph Beuys is his philosophy on art and his intentions behind his artwork. I find the idea behind his 7000 Oaks Project quite beautiful, and I love how he created a work of art that involved the entire community and had a very set purpose; to get people to plant trees. When I think about it, I can almost consider people going together to plant trees on Earth Day a work of art, even if there is no artist behind it, because it is such a simple, yet beautiful act. I love his philosophy that "everyone is an artist" and how he tried to let as many people into his art classes as possible and to be less exclusive as a teacher. I think that, because art is so subjective, no one can actually say who is or is not an artist. And I think that art is something built into us, albeit some more than others, so it is impossible for someone to not be an artist to some extent, just as it is impossible for someone to never experience any emotions. I find that encouraging people to create art and acknowledging the art that is created is important. There have been times at college or even high school that I have seen students create works of art that have been better than many works of art that I have seen in museums (at least according to my own taste and what inspires me.) Of course, these people do not have the "credentials" or the "prestige" in the art world to be worth as much as a famous artist, who may have a lot of acknowledgement, but also may not be as good. This is why I think it is important how Beuys tried not to exclude people in his classes, as long as they wanted to learn. I also think that, even if someone may not be a "good" artist (although, I don't think one can ever confidently say whether a work of art is "good" or not) I think it is still important to let art be something that reaches out to all. Whether it be a career or just a hobby, art can be life-changing, not just to museum-goers, but to the artists themselves as well (which is one of the reasons art therapy exists.) Even if someone's goal is not to become successful, but to simply partake in art, I think they should be given an equal chance to learn it. And thinking about this gets me to question myself; if an amateur is creating art purely for art's sake, without other motives, such as a professional's motive to sell a painting or sculpture, then wouldn't it be possible that the amateur's work is even "more" a work of art? Contemplating this subject is why I think it is so interesting that Beuys said "everyone is an artist." Although I do have to say that the possible fictitiousness of parts of his autobiography are definitely odd. And I also found it odd when reading about him, that none of his artwork seemed to touch upon WWII or the Holocaust, even though he was a German soldier. He did submit a proposal for a Holocaust memorial, although, that really doesn't seem all that much when he spent so much time fighting that war. These are both mentioned by one of Beuys's critics, although I disagree with the other criticisms that he had of Beuys, since I do not find his artwork lacking in other regards. I found it interesting when Beuys said, "The silence of Marcel Duchamp is overrated." I agree to an extent; I generally think that artwork should try to provoke something or say something to the viewer. However, I also think that to an extent, the "silence" of Duchamp's work speaks on its own. Duchamp, whether he meant to or not (although my guess is at least to some extent, he did) still gets people to think about what art consists of and the importance we have on placing artwork in the gallery, when a urinal can be placed in a gallery and accomplish the same thing.