Thursday, December 16, 2010
Joseph Beuys, Leigh Bowery and Klaus Nomi
Joseph Beuys was a German performance artist, sculptor, instillation, graphic artist, and art theorist. His work explored concepts of humanism, social philosophy, and anthroposophy. Joseph Beuys is now considered one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. Beuys was a member of Fluxus and close with Nam June Paik and Marcel Duchamp. 
Leigh Bowery was an Australian performance artist, club promoter, actor, pop star, model and fashion designer. Bowery is considered one of the most influential artists of the 1980s and 1990s. Some of Bowery's peices include "Ich Bin Kunst" and "I'll Have You All" and had even formed a band for a short time in 1993 called Raw Sewage. They performed nude with their faces blackened, wearing platform shoes and wigs.
Klaus Nomi, born Klaus Sperber, was another German performance artist known for his performance art. He used make-up, costumes, and a signature hair style. His songs ranged from synthesized classical opera to pop. During his childhood Nomi he performed on stage at the Deutsche Oper in West Berlin where he sang on stage. Nomi gained popularity in the US in New York during his "New Wave Vaudeville" in 1978.
Fluxus
The term Fluxus comes from a Latin word meaning "to flow." Fluxus is actually an international network of artists, composers, and designers who were known for bringing together different artisic media and disciplines in the sixties. The term came from an artist Dick Higgins in his famous 1966 essay. The artists part of this group were leaders in the Neo-Dada music, visual arts, literature, urban planning, architecture, and design. Fluxus started with the composer John Cage and his experimental music of the fifties. Another important man for Fluxus is artist George Maciunas who organized the first Fluxus event in 1961 at New York's AG Gallery and the first Fluxus festival in Europe in 1962.Fluxus encouraged a "do-it-yourself"aesthetic and valued simplicity, Fluxus encouraged anti-commercialism and anti-art ideals. Fluxus artists worked with the materials they had at hand.
Bauhaus
Bauhaus was a school in Germany from 1919 to 1933 founded by Walter Gropius in Weimar. Bauhaus students learned the arts and the school was known for their approach to design that was taught. In German "Bauhaus" means "House of Building" or "Building School." The school was founded on the idea of creating a total work of art in which all arts would be brought together. The Bauhaus style became one of the most influential leaders in modernist architecture and design and influenced many of the most popular types of art such as architecture, graphic design, interior design, industrial design and typography. The school was a popular forced until it was forced to close in 1933 due to pressure from the Nazi's.
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