The Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill is teaming up with Hamptons Doc Fest to launch The Artist’s Lens, a new documentary series revolving around artists that will launch with a screening of Beuys on Friday, January 4, at 6 p.m.
Directed by Andres Veiel, the film provides a comprehensive look at the life and work of 20th Century German sculptor and performance artist Joseph Beuys (1921-1986) – including unseen video and new audio sources.
“I’m excited to screen this film about an artist who has profoundly changed the notion of what art is and so eloquently talked about it,” reflected Corinne Erni, Parrish Curator of Special Projects.
Beuys, who also explored sculpting, installation artist, and graphic art, is still widely considered one of the most influential artists of his generation. His works explore concepts of humanism, social philosophy and anthroposophy, and Beuys also invented social sculpture, an expanded concept of art that emphasizes a piece’s ability to impact society.
The film earned the Bavarian Film Award for Best Editing, the German Film Award for Best Editing and Best Documentary, and Guild of German Art House Cinema’s award for Best Documentary. It was also nominated for Best Film at the Berlin International Film Festival and Cinema Eye Honors Awards.
“For some, the work of the German artist Joseph Beuys is easy to dismiss. As they are preserved in museums, his installations can seem like mere debris strewn across a floor. The highly praised 2017 film The Square contains a running gag about an art work that’s nothing but piles of rocks, which keeps getting swept up by the cleaning staff of a museum; it’s clearly a poke at Beuys,” Glenn Kenny notes in his New York Times review of the film. “As is the case with many conceptual artists, Beuys’s work was best understood with Beuys’s actual presence attached to it. But Beuys has been dead since 1986. This documentary, directed by Andres Veiel using mostly archival footage, makes a strong case for Beuys, emphasizing the social conscience at work in his art more than the postmodern prankishness.”
“The movie is an exhilarating portrait of a unique truth-teller,” Kenny adds.
The screening will be followed by a talk with Parrish Art Museum Director Terrie Sultan.
Admission to the screening is $15, and $5 for members, children, and students.
Parrish Art Museum is located at 279 Montauk Highway in Water Mill. For more information, call 631-283-2118 or visit parrishart.org.