Joseph Beuys > Quotes

“Art alone makes life possible – this is how radically I should like to formulate it. I would say that without art man is inconceivable in physiological terms… I would say man does not consist only of chemical processes, but also of metaphysical occurrences. The provocateur of the chemical processes is located outside the world. Man is only truly alive when he realizes he is a creative, artistic being… Even the act of peeling a potato can be a work of art if it is a conscious act.”
― Joseph Beuys

“Truth must be found in reality, not systems.”
― Joseph Beuys, What Is Art? Conversations with Joseph Beuys

“Every human being is an artist, a freedom being, called to participate in transforming and reshaping the conditions, thinking and structures that shape and inform our lives.”
― Joseph Beuys

“In places like universities, where everyone talks too rationally, it is necessary for a kind of enchanter to appear.”
― Joseph Beuys

“This kind of art school is for me the least important. A spiritual structure is needed. If a person is an artist he can use the most primitive of instruments:- a broken knife is enough. Otherwise it remains a craft school.”
― Joseph Bueys

“The ego must be developed, not for its own sake, but because it is needed by society. If you are only interested in self-realisation then you cannot make a good painting. To do this you have to have thought about forming and about how ideas of forming stem from history.”
― Joseph Bueys