Hooray it’s my birthday today! One of many, too many and I celebrate it with one of my favorite artists Anselm Kiefer, German painter and sculptor b.1945 …….. and by going to work. A bit of a drag eh, but I really couldn’t get the time off this time.
josef-beuys remarkable likeness to Von Hagens?
Kiefer studied under fellow German artist Josef Beuys b. 1921 -1986. Beuys was a performance artist, his art is kind of ritualistic. Rescued by Tartars in the Crimea he then started to use lots of animal fat and felt in his work.
beuys-coyote-1974 I like America and America likes me
Kiefer’s work is about the Germany’s past. He uses collective memory, folklore and unusual media like straw, glass ash and clay. His art processes the past and gives new meaning to the present. He works on a very large format which is impressive, his work has an air of fragility about it (through the use of his materials), yet it’s statements are strong. He loves to use lead, nails, and other strange materials. His work has a creative alchemical feel to it that I love.
nigredo-kiefer-1984
This is what The Independent said in a review of Kiefer’s February 2007 exhibition at London’s White Cubes Gallery:
“Great art is about transformation And transformation experience and transforming materials are what Anselm Kiefer specializes in. The contrasting themes of destruction and recreation, violent upheaveal and spiritual renewal, underin much of the artist’s work.”
Thanks for stopping by Lewis! Yes, it,s a shame we couldn’t get to London this year. I love this man’s work. I just nipped over to your ‘Monuments’ and was particularly impresssed with the mixed media image (that used photography). This is a good medium in exploring the past, as it captures a moment which you can then manually alter (changing the ‘past’). Kiefer also commemorates the past in his work. I like the materials he uses too, a mixture of the durable and stuff that will corrode and tell a story of it’s own.
Kind Regards
Echostains Blog 
I think you would have really enjoyed his most recent exhibition at the White Cube, London. Very impressive indeed.
Thanks for stopping by Lewis! Yes, it,s a shame we couldn’t get to London this year. I love this man’s work. I just nipped over to your ‘Monuments’ and was particularly impresssed with the mixed media image (that used photography). This is a good medium in exploring the past, as it captures a moment which you can then manually alter (changing the ‘past’). Kiefer also commemorates the past in his work. I like the materials he uses too, a mixture of the durable and stuff that will corrode and tell a story of it’s own.
Kind Regards