Reflections on Beuys - Rex Delafkaran

On the occasion of Joseph Beuys’ 100th birthday, the Goethe-Institut Washington and the Hirshhorn Museum paired up and challenged nine contemporary artists to reflect on Beuys. In short videos, each artist conveys their relationship to Beuys, his work, and his legacy.
Transcription:
Hi I am Rex Delafkaran I am a performance artist and sculptor currently based in Washington DC.
When I grow up I was educated in the Rudolf Steiner Waldorf school educational system and was surrounded by the aesthetics of anthroposophy and the use of the materials and the body as a learning tool. So when I came by Joseph Beuys’ work I found it immediately intriguing.
Specifically through his works “Felt Suit” Coyote” “Fat Chair” and “Felt Action” I believe that Joseph Beuys was demonstrating the important and essential failure of material to then achieve something greater, and by doing so building this mythology of his identity, and the identity of his materials.
That is a process I relate to very directly and that has become a staple to the way I think about my materials and the body in my work and practice.