american painter, largely part of expressionist movement. significant predecessor to performance art because of the initiation of the idea of art as a process. The concept of art as a verb, an act of ones doing is central to the artists we'll be discussing and pollack is a reduced example of what was to come. : "...look passively and try to receive what the painting has to offer and not bring a subject matter or preconceived idea of what they are to be looking for."
yve klein
French artist and is considered an important figure in post-war European art. New York critics of Klein's time classify him as neo-Dada, but other critics, such as Thomas McEvilley in an essay submitted to Artforum in 1982, have since classified Klein as an early, though "enigmatic," Post-Modernist. Klein experimented with various methods of applying the paint; firstly different rollers and then later sponges, created a series of varied surfaces. This experimentalism would lead to a number of works Klein made using naked female models covered in blue paint and dragged across or laid upon canvases to make the image, using the models as "living brushes". This type of work he called Anthropometry. Other paintings in this method of production include "recordings" of rain that Klein made by driving around in the rain at 70 miles per hour with a canvas tied to the roof of his car, and canvases with patterns of soot created by scorching the canvas with gas burners.
Hugo Ball (Dadaist)
One of the very first dada performers, recited poem ‘Karawane’ at the Cabaret Voltaire while wearing strange costume. An excerpt from poem—“zimzim urallala zimzim zanzibar zimlalla zam”
Allan Kaprow
Happenings; events that attempted to “break the fourth wall”, participatory and interactive, with no hierarchy between artist and viewer…ex=‘Households’ where participants licked strawberry jam off the hood of a car before it was set on fire
Joseph Beuys
Beuys’s first solo exhibition in a private gallery opened on November 26, 1965 with one of the artist’s most famous and compelling performances: How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare. The artist could be viewed through the glass of the gallery’s window. His face was covered in honey and gold leaf, an iron slab was attached to his boot. In his arms he cradled a dead hare, into whose ear he mumbled muffled noises as well as explanations of the drawings that lined the walls.
Hermann Nitsch (a Viennese Actionist—known for violent and indecent performances, often arrested)
Crucified lambs in his early performances, etc., questioning the ethics of religious sacrifice; more current work deals with violence and media/culture
Vito Acconci
MFA at UIowa; In ‘Seedbed’ Acconci lied underneath a floor installed on the floor of the gallery, masturbating while “vocalizing into a loudspeaker his fantasies about the visitors walking above him”. Acconci wanted to create a “situation of reciprocal interchange between artist and viewer.”; work is very heavy on interactivity
Chris Burden
Personal danger as artistic expression; in ‘shoot’ had his friend shoot him in the arm from 15ish feet away—show video; in ‘trans-fixed’ his hands were nailed to the back of a Volkswagen; other pieces involved laying without food/water/speaking/moving for time periods from 45 hours to 22days.
Carolee Schneemann
multidisciplinary artist. Transformed the definition of art, especially discourse on the body, sexuality, and gender. The history of her work is characterized by research into archaic visual traditions, pleasure wrested from suppressive taboos, the body of the artist in dynamic relationship with the social body.
The 1964 piece Meat Joy revolved around eight partially nude figures dancing and playing with various objects and substances including wet paint, sausage, raw fish, scraps of paper, and raw chickens.[10] It was first performed in Paris and was later filmed and photographed as performed by her Kinetic Theater group at Judson Memorial Church.[1] She described the piece as an "erotic rite" and an indulgent Dionysian "celebration of flesh as material."
focused on conception, rather than execution
Marina Abramović
In ‘Rhythm 0’ Abramović placed 72 objects on a table that people were allowed to use in any way that they chose. “Some of these were objects that could give pleasure, while others could be wielded to inflict pain, or to harm her. Among them were scissors, a knife, a whip, and, most notoriously, a gun and a single bullet.” Initially the audience “reacted with caution and modesty, but as time passed (and the artist remained impassive) several people began to act quite aggressively”
Abramović: “The experience I learned was that…if you leave decision to the public, you can be killed… I felt really violated: they cut my clothes, stuck rose thorns in my stomach, one person aimed the gun at my head, and another took it away. It created an aggressive atmosphere. After exactly 6 hours, as planned, I stood up and started walking toward the public. Everyone ran away, escaping an actual confrontation.”; In 2005 at the Guggenheim, NY she recreated 7 historical performances including two of her own, ‘Seedbed’ by Acconci, and ‘How To Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare’ by Beuys.
Oliver de Sagazan
French contemp artist; in another performance he sculpts a head in front of an audience, muttering to himself and/or the sculpture. His muttering turns to sporadic/angry yelling and the performance quickly ends with Sagazan loosely wrapping the sculpture in cloth, lighting it on fire, and exiting the room.
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