Lemon Light
Joseph Beuys was born in Krefeld in 1921. In 1940, he volunteered for the Luftwaffe. Fours years later he was onboard an JU87 aeroplane that crashed on the Crimean Front. Beuys, who was the only survivor, claimed that he was rescued by Tartar tribesmen who wrapped his severely burnt and broken body in animal fat and felt and restored him to health. The event changed Beuys' life forever. The Luftwaffe airman decided to become an artist.
It has been suggested that parts of this story are untrue. It hardly matters. Beuys went on to become one of the most influential German artists of the twentieth century. His loyalty to the tribesmen who saved him, or, no less movingly, to the apotheosis that inspired the story and changed his life, is seen in the felt and fat that figured in so much of his work. My favourite piece by Beuys is Lemon Light, the simple visual pun of a yellow light bulb inserted into a lemon. Look at it for long enough, and a little light bulb will light up in your head. If life gives you lemons... And whether the origin of Beuy’s creative identity is true or an invention, the optimism of the piece is equally apt. |