? DACS 2008
Felt Suit
1970
- Artist Rooms
Beuys began producing works in multiples in the 1960s, partly as a way to combat the elitism of the art world. This is probably his most famous multiple. It has its origins in the performance 'Action the Dead Mouse / Isolation Unit' of 1970, where Beuys wore a felt suit with lengthened arms and legs, like the one seen here. He described the suit as an extension of the sculptures he made with felt, where the material's insulating properties were integral to the meaning of the work. Beuys intended this concept of warmth to extend beyond the material to encompass what he described as 'spiritual warmth or the beginning of an evolution'.
