Photo © Tate (Matt Greenwood)
12 rooms in Artist and Society
These artists used found objects to make sculptures that demonstrate the political potential of art
Joseph Beuys (1921–1986) and Vlassis Caniaris (1928–2011) took a similar experimental approach when creating installations during the 1970s and 1980s. The artists worked against a backdrop of nationalism in their native countries. For Beuys, it was Germany after the Second World War. For Caniaris, the Greek Civil War and military junta that followed.
As a migrant in Rome, Caniaris encountered ‘arte povera’ – a radical Italian art movement that began in the late 1960s and involved unconventional processes and ‘everyday’ materials. Meanwhile, it was the 1960s Fluxus movement that influenced Beuys. He became part of an international collective of artists, musicians, writers, and performers that rejected traditional artistic conventions and embraced a wide range of mediums.
Beuys saw art as a form of social engagement and activism to address political and environmental issues. He made what he called ‘social sculptures’ – artworks that seek to transform society by inviting everyone to be part of the creative process.
Caniaris used plaster, paper and wire mesh to craft pieces he called ‘almost sculptures.’ A former set designer, his theatrical installations feature everyday items: newspapers, clothing (often his own and his family’s), suitcases and toys. Caniaris altered the objects depending on the availability of materials. The changing composition symbolised migrants adapting to their new environment.
The vulnerability of Caniaris’s mixed-media installations contrasts with the stark bronze and aluminium work by Beuys. Through their distinctive individual practices and use of unconventional materials, Caniaris and Beuys show that art can blend with the objects, politics and emotions of everyday life.
Vlassis Caniaris, Possible Background 1974
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artworks in Joseph Beuys and Vlassis Caniaris
Vlassis Caniaris, Untitled 1974
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artworks in Joseph Beuys and Vlassis Caniaris
Vlassis Caniaris, Image 1971
Image 1971 is an installation comprising two old suitcases and two wooden crates that sit upon some sheets of newspaper, placed on a sheet of particle-board. The newspaper sheets overlap and have been laid out as if to protect the surface underneath. The effect of the paper and the dark board is that of a frame or plinth within which the other components of the work are contained. Image is one of a number of so-called ‘environments’ which Caniaris created in the 1970s, in a departure from his early works which were mainly de-constructed paintings and assemblages, as well as smaller sculptural installations. These ‘environments’ were self-contained installations dealing with differing subjects – some, such as the later Untitled 1974 (Tate T13027), were anthropomorphic sculptures that usually displayed only half-bodies or headless figures. In them the artist used found and ready-made objects to convey socio-political meanings and associations.
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artworks in Joseph Beuys and Vlassis Caniaris
Art in this room
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Vlassis Caniaris
Untitled
1966
Vlassis Caniaris
Possible Background
1974
Vlassis Caniaris
Untitled
1974
Vlassis Caniaris
Image
1971
Sorry, no image available
Joseph Beuys
Lightning with Stag in its Glare
1958–85