Joesph Beuy

                                          Joseph Beuys

Joseph Beuys is a documentary produced by Thomas Kufus. This film explores the life and art of Joseph Beuys.  The interviews are documentation of his journey to overcome traditional art. Beuys was portrayed to believe art is a powerful voice in society. It is a living, breathing, happening entity, not just a spot on a gallery wall. Joseph Beuys states,” eliminating the state is the idea of art.”

This film is constructed by describing Joseph Beuys’ life and art from childhood to manhood. It is comprised of interviews and pictures from his life. The imagery is mainly in black and white, which gives the documentary a dynamic feel, and focuses directly on each situation. The movie was in German with subtitles. The insight into this artist’s life gives the impression of a disconnect between him and his family.  They left him as a child to find his own way in the world. During childhood, he produced drawings and, as an adult progressed into sculpture.

            When this artist grew into a man, he enlisted in the air force where he was severely injured in a plane crash. The film made it seem that his account of how he survived was inaccurate. Soon after the crash, he suffered severe depression. The doctor labeled him incurable. It was at this point that Beuys denounced art. People cared for him and helped him through his crippling depression. In the interview with his roommate, he said,” my mother went and saw the artist in his room”. The movie portrayed this to be an awakening of the spirit for him. She voiced to him that he owed the world his art and was given a gift to share.

The flow of the film is disruptive to this point. There were subtitles on top of subtitles which made it difficult to read and follow. The imagery, however, was very strong. To have a better understanding of the documentary, one might get a clearer understanding by watching it with the sound off. This may allow the viewer to concentrate on the subtitles, but even with this being done the subtitles are grainy, blend into the background, and you have to speed read to follow along.  The documentary picked up somewhat when Joseph Beuys made it to America and began to lecture. The premise of the documentary is how Joseph Beuys art was about making living sculptures and going against the grain of society and government. Beuys wanted to change the meaning and idea behind art.

This German artist did not believe that art should be hanging on a wall.  He wanted to challenge society with public issues, like the living sculpture in New York. He challenged how America was taken from the Native Americans. He did this through a living sculpture using a living wolf that was ravaging a room. One could think it was a metaphor for Europeans forcefully taking native lands.

 Beuys tries to create change by making uncomfortable living sculptures about issues in government and society. This was perceived through interviews with the artist, the imagery, and videos of his work. I would not recommend this documentary to anyone that doesn’t speak German and was not familiar with Joseph’s Beuys work. The subtitles were grainy and blended into the background. They also posted subtitles over subtitles. The speed at which you were to follow along and read was very quick. This puts the viewer at a disadvantage.