Uniforms, Felt and Fashion: on Joseph Beuys’ Parallel Processes

The work of artist Joseph Beuys (1921-1986) displays some interesting connections with fashion.

There are actually quite a few works by this artist exhibited at London’s Tate Modern.

One large room on the first floor is entirely dedicated to him and includes works such as “Monument to the Stag” and "Table with Accumulator".

The former is connected to the artist’s interest in European folklore and to the figure of the stag as a mythical guardian of the forest and a symbol of rebirth and renewal through the yearly shedding and re-growth of its antlers; the latter features instead an accumulator attached by wires to two pieces of clay as if drawing power from the earth itself to symbolise the production and storage of energy and a metaphor for the creative and spiritual energy that Beuys wanted to foster in the individual viewer and in society as a whole.

In the same room there is a rather large picture of Beuys taken in 1970 that features the artist posing in front of some of the sledges from his sculpture "The Pack" while wearing a sort of uniform, a theme that ties in with the previous post and with Andrea Zittel’s works.

His uniform comprised jeans, white shirt, a fishing vest, fur-lined coat and a trilby hat. Next to this image there is the “Campaign Bed” (1982), a piece linked with his plane crash in Crimea during the Second World War.

According to the myth, the artist was saved by a band of Tartar nomads who saved him by wrapping his body in fat and covering it in felt.

This is the reason why the felt blanket became one of his signature materials.

The portable and easily assembled campaign bed carries association with the body while being connected with ideas of survival under emergency conditions.

The electrical accumulator suggests the preservation of physical and creative energy.

If, like me, you are fascinated by the concept of uniform in Beuys' works, but also by his use of thick felt as a material that carried traces of the past with it, check out the exhibition "Joseph Beuys. Parallel Processes" (until 16th January 2011) at the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen am Grabbeplatz in Düsseldorf.

The event – featuring some of the artist's large-scale sculptural pieces on loan from major museums and private collections – also includes "Stripes from the house of the shaman 1964-72" (1980) which is shown in Europe for the first time.

The exhibition is accompanied by a very interesting 400-page catalogue that will allow you to discover more about Beuys and maybe get inspired by his fascination with felt for your own fashion collections.

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