Ever since I discovered the powerful art and persona of Joseph Beuys (some five years ago at a university class where an image of Beuys explaining the pictures to a dead hare on his lap changed my way of seeing art forever), I thought his only contact with America was at the René Block Gallery in New York, 1974, when he lived for five days with a coyote. "I like America and America likes me" is one of the most powerful artistic statements ever created, and one cannot but being in awe before those epic, dramatic images of Beuys totally covered in felt, mummy-like, being attacked by the bites of the coyote, though the shaman and the beast eventually became friends and had a peaceful stay together, not in small part due to the powers of Beuys as a communicator with animals and earth, his capability to understand the coyote, its behave and reaction, his touching the spirit of the coyote.
The choice of a coyote was a commentary on the lost Native America; Beuys didn't want to touch American soil, remarking that "whole American trauma with the Indian, the Red Man", so he was wrapped upon his arrival to JFK Airport, transported in an ambulance to the gallery and left alone, isolated and focused on himself and his dialogue with the coyote, blinded by the felt that covered his head and whole body. He wanted to see nothing of America but the coyote. After the action ended, Beuys was wrapped again, supposedly blind for the whole trip and action, conducted to the airport and flown to Dusseldorf.
Now, this could be the "official" story and history for many people including me myself, but there is a visit that I didn't know and I think many people don't know: the other day I found a book at the Strand in Fulton entitled "Beuys in America" that tells the story and photos of Beuys' first visit to America, in January 1974, that is, some five months before his Coyote action. He visited New York, Chicago, Minneapolis invited by Ronald Feldman of New York and John Stoller of Dayton's Gallery 12 in Minneapolis. He gave his lectures, painted his chalkboards; he had walks in the streets of Chicago, a breakfast in a New York deli, a visit to Dayton's store in Minneapolis (owned by Kenneth Dayton, the founder of Target and champion of artistic philanthropy and museum giving in the Twin Cities-Minnesota). The photos are a discovery for me, an impact- I've lived all these years thinking Beuys never actually touched American soil and his only visit was to talk to the coyote, and now I find out that he had a 15-days tour.
Hard to imagine Joseph Beuys in Minnesota, in the snowy freezing Midwest. His schedule and reschedule of flights that appear in the "Beuys in America" book remind me of my own first visit to the Midwest, also to Chicago and Minneapolis, also from New York, also among heavy snowstorms, also in January, exactly 30 years later, in 2004. Also a European, also a first contact with America (not New York City).
It's disappointing to discover that Beuys visited America on a normal trip. Somehow, that makes "I like America and America likes me" less original, less authentic. He had touched America, certainly. Was it "legitimate" to perform a piece that carefully avoided any contact with American soil after he had being touring no less than the heart of America, the Midwest?
But while this disappointment is unavoidable and quite shocking, getting to know that Beuys' academic tour to New York, Chicago and Minneapolis and first visit to America coincide with my own personal experience in the exact same cities and dates opens a whole new perception-connection between the master shaman and my living that pleases me and intrigues me.
Now, Joseph Beuys, after all these years, does America really like us?
