SHIN GALLERY is pleased to present Fat for Heat, Felt for Warmth, a solo exhibition of Joseph Beuys at the gallery’s 68 Orchard Street location in New York. This is the first exhibition in our new space.

Joseph Beuys was a German artist active across Europe and the United States from the 1950s through the early 1980s. As a drawer, painter, sculptor, performance artist and social activist, Beuys came to be associated with Fluxus, an international network of anarchic and satirical artists who paved the way for Conceptual art. Working mostly in the 1960s, artists connected with this movement were characterized by their dissatisfaction with traditional and Heroic painting and sculpture. Turning away from the conservatism and commerciality that plagued—and continues to plague—the art world, Fluxus artists worked with untraditional and everyday items. For Beuys, these items were deeply personal and symbolic; incorporating a wide array of organic and found materials, the artist demonstrated the ability of art—particularly that which addresses political, psychological and social issues—to become universal, no matter how personal its derivation. It is with this universality, Beuys believed, that art obtains the potential to heal a scarred society.

It is important to keep in mind that Beuys was working in immediate postwar Germany, in a society that was grappling with its sense of identity. Having participated actively in the nihilism and trauma of World War II, Beuys used his art as a means of working through his guilt by association in the Holocaust. This is not part of the American narrative following World War II, a war in which the United States was a liberator that ascended to world power and prestige. For this reason, it is often difficult for American audiences to understand how to relate to Beuys’ practice. Further, Fluxus art is rarely attractive in appearance or obvious in meaning, making the works difficult to digest by Americans who are drawn to “greatest hit” iconic pieces.

Yet, despite this lack of accessibility, Beuys had an enormous social impact, both within a broken Germany and on a much larger global scale. During his time, he used his art—particularly his performance pieces, or “Actions”—as vehicles to communicate his formulas for great social recovery and advancement. These formulas are just as relevant to American society today as they were in postwar Germany, and Beuys’ works retain an undeniable immediacy. By providing viewers with an in depth survey of the artist’s unique perspective, SHIN GALLERY aims to inspire an American introspection; how is Beuys’ unique practice something our society can learn from in the fractured country we now inhabit? How can his works help us to better understand ourselves? Fat For Heat, Felt for Warmth continues the SHIN GALLERY tradition of presenting art as social commentary, provocation, and healing. We invite you to study the diverse works and consider for yourself the ways in which Joseph Beuys remains as relevant today as ever before.


For all press inquiries, contact:

Sojin Kim
sj@shin-gallery.com