Anselm Kiefer Interview: Art is Spiritual

Meet the extolled German artist, Anselm Kiefer, who lives for the process of creating, argues that history is a moldable material, considers art a spiritual occupation and refers to himself as a “dinosaur”.
Art is a spiritual occupation, capturing a form of contact that science can’t: “It makes a connection between things that are separated,” Kiefer argues. In his mind, his works should continually evolve and be fluid. The process of creating is of utmost importance to him, as it is the process rather than the end that has his interest, and what’s between the paintings rather than in them. “I am a dinosaur - I paint myself,” he comments.
Kiefer argues that history is a material, which is moldable like argil, and in this way becomes less horrific as it is possible to reform it. “History shows that humankind has a wrong construction in their head…it’s badly done,” he continues, half-jokingly remarking that if an airplane had such a construction, it would fall down all the time. He, however, does not consider it his job as an artist to express a certain attitude towards history: “I just show it like I see it.”
Anselm Kiefer (born 1945) is a German painter and sculptor. His works incorporate materials such as straw, ash, clay, lead and shellac. Spirituality and history are important themes in Kiefer’s works, which frequently address and seek to process taboo and often dark, controversial issues from recent history, such as the horrors of the Holocaust. Kiefer, whose style is often linked to ‘New Symbolism’, lives and works primarily in Paris, France and in Alcáder do Sal, Portugal.
Anselm Kiefer was interviewed by Tim Marlow at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in 2010.
Camera: Marie Friis Forchhammer
Edited by: Marie Friis Forchhammer
Produced by: Marc-Christoph Wagner
Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2015
Supported by Nordea-fonden

[@lazydaisybookart474]

When I make art I connect to an energy.

[@eugenenciu902]

ART is one of GOD's door to his living room! When you start to paint or draw you are already Multidimensional. Blessings!

[@kaiserbrett9266]

instaBlaster...

[@AL_THOMAS_777]

👍👍👍

[@Artmaker52]

This is a marvelous interview. Thank you for posting it.

[@emilysmarshmallowaddiction2686]

Every painting that is and that will ever be,,born from dust, will one day again be dust floating in the cosmos for eternity ,, this is the beautiful big picture

[@LydK443]

Many artists feel art is spiritual. The practice of art is also spiritual.

[@kikeheebchinkjigaboo6631]

Lydia K bullshit.

[@TrickyRover]

@@kikeheebchinkjigaboo6631 chill

[@jaylucas8352]

@@kikeheebchinkjigaboo6631 nice name. Very enlightened person you are

[@sevensilverpetals1601]

Love Tim Marlow - he is so natural with Anslem Keifer and actually having conversation with him, rather than firing scripted, interrogative-type questions from a notepad. Keifer is a magnificant, iconic talent.

[@vidiot509]

I feel that making art is like a dialogue between a Buddhist and a physicist. All parts of the brain need to be alert and ready to act. Great insight into Keifer's creativity. A good interview for input and more importantly one's own output. 🌀

[@MarkSeibold]

I especially related to Kiefer's recollection of his First Communion, as a young Catholic. I had the same recollection, deciding to become an artist at age seven in my second grade classroom of elementary school. I had no idea that Id be asked to lecture or discuss my life in art, until a few years ago, [or that I would speak about in on National Public Radio, live many times.]

[@deniselynn7944]

I do what I call mediational art I encourage students to paint to music & tell everyone to let their spirit & soul to create the painting it been very interesting paints that comes forth yes I would say art can be spiritual & cause the artist to become spiritual in their creative art....there a artist in all of us...I enjoy working with beginners best students to work with...

[@caleighbocrie577]

I always say that art helps bring a translation, some order, to the chaos

[@jenns.5791]

i just now realized that he speaks both German AND English. I've heard him speak in both, but it never hit me before that i was hearing him speak in two different languages.

[@Tily0507]

Maravilloso

[@jakethehuman7]

The word spiritual gets clichéd and people forget it's power. The process of making art embodies spiritual blueprints like the hero story + role of the artist parallel

[@do.4294]

should you have a couple of minutes, I'd love to know more about this perspective of yours...

[@J_to_the_F]

@@do.4294 maybee my thoughts on this are similar, I can just share my point of view. Spirituality is often seen as something that brings you to a more plesent state of consciousness, ease, peace... it is often seen like buying something, a transaction. I spent some time on sitting quietly... and get more relaxed. But spirituality is something different (to me and many others). It is a process of overcoming concepts throu wich we experience the world, realisation and expression beyond things measurable in our conditioned experience. I have to distinguish art and craftsmenship here. I made an urn for a beloved person once and it could have been just a piece of craftsmenship expressing my concept about this person. It could have been a way of showing how sad I was about his death, what I hade given to spent more time with him. I could have made wooden inlays showing pictures of what I could have given, I could have guilded it... but that wouldn't have made it a piece of art but just craftsmenship. I didn't think during the process of turning it and it was no expression of conceptual relationship to that person. It was just an expression about what was beyond conceptual experience. For me this was a piece of spirituality, and it happens other times during working. Its not "I want to paint happynes, so I paint smiling faces." I just paint happynes and when it turns out to be smiling faces, smiling faces it is. Thats the parallel to the heros journey: you set a goal (expressing a certain thing) but you cant just produce a picture of your concept of that thing... this is a failed attempt, so you have to go overcome this thing, find it, find whats behind it, why you cling on to an abstract concept about it. Only then you can express the deeper thing itself. Most of the time this happens subconsciously, but it is the same thing as spirituality since it brings you to that state of clarity, ease, peace wich is not bought by fighting down stress but rather getting in an unconceptual state of consciousness where no stress can arise fron concepts.

[@do.4294]

@@J_to_the_F thank you for sharing your insight and perspective

[@josephtermeer4595]

"it's one reason to be an artist ".... Its a funny, and, sad comment at the same time. This artist is certainly a monster creator! He is someone I hope to meet soon.

[@protectionnowrick]

Love it

[@mxmp-b666]

for whatever it's worth, when Kiefer speaks about studios and says it's not "immobile", he probably means "immobiliar", german for "real estate" . Not "immobile".

[@davefischer2344]

very interesting

[@m-bronte]

God is also called the Creator, and that part of us that creates is connected to the spirit within. The creation process is the voice of spirit.

[@simeonbanner6204]

Funny the contrast in personality and culture. Kiefer: direct, intense and Tim Marlow: tip toeing around, indirect and uncomfortable to discuss anything too deep for the event and the audience and perhaps himself.

[@ionvasile12]

The perfect example between a creating person and art critic .

[@feralmode]

I think he asked deep questions, just cause he speaks fast and his mind flits doesn’t mean you can dismiss him. he’s smart and articulate

[@MikelGCinema]

Hes a Brit, thats why.

[@melech6926]

High stëcks? Hay stacks! High stëcks yea...

[@DJSTOEK]

💘

[@rembeadgc]

Human beings are spiritual by nature. There is no separation between man and the spiritual. You can no more separate man from spirit than you can separate oxygen from water. If you remove oxygen its no longer water. Without the spiritual... man is not man. Man is only separated from the spiritual in his mind but regardless of what he thinks or says... he acts as though spirit is essential to his reality... because it is. He cannot escape it without abandoning himself. The source of man's ills is his spiritual condition and how he thinks (or not) about it. Art, in its many forms, is a visual/sonic/linguistic expression of spirituality. Without the spiritual... art would be meaningless.

[@TheNoblot]

arts & renaissance + for the arts bank.

[@dwat26]

... next time I'd advise laying off the editing-machine button marked "vertiginous."

[@thirdrockjul2224]

👍

[@emre28oz79]

Something is not quite pleasant about the communication style in this video.

[@richardanderson6376]

The painting in the background is a Sam Francis

[@JustJesseOfficial]

+Richard Anderson They never said it was his.

[@deejay0345]

Richard Anderson never said that they said it was his (Kiefer's), just that it was Francis'

[@Rufusdos]

"immobilien" doesn't mean "immobile", it means "real estate"!!

[@andreaandrea6716]

Yes! Or immobilier (Fr).

[@peacelove4271]

Check out more inspiring artists like Anselm and enter into art competitions weekly at www.hauthous.com

[@specter2205]

Tripod that camera!

[@sucre9995]

I found a picatchu!

[@deroux]

Tim is so timid. He needs to dive in and be ok with not knowing what is on the other side of that door.

[@danielalpha5892]

dat subtitles

[@antonypace8907]

What a shame the interviewer didn't speak German. Immobile etc. He missed a lot of the answers.

[@ajaxfilms]

A tripod would be nice....still interesting.

[@AWayOfLiving84]

No more art until..Move on until..

[@user-hk9du6px9x]

The disappointment! Nothing often happens.

[@Rufusdos]

"The science is all separated, so the only way to have some ... is the art" I can't work out whether he says "context" or "contact" because of his accent. He can't pronounce the English /æ/ sound, so it could be contact, and he's put an 's' on the end because he doesn't know that "contact" is uncountable in this sense...

[@emilybetcher4592]

I thought he was saying "connection" at that point. Might have just been where my mind was going, though.

[@thetherorist9244]

easy to spiritual when youre rich

[@feralmode]

Oh fuck off

[@rebeccabriggs2982]

I'm poor and spiritual. I spend much time alone, in nature, walking, painting, drawing, contemplating. Struggles can bring one much, much closer to the spiritual. Separation from it is in fact an Illusion.

[@AL_THOMAS_777]

@@rebeccabriggs2982 🙌 👏 🙏 🤝 👍

[@ArtisticPainter_]

Man is made in God’s image. He must of been the favorite altar boy.

[@andreaandrea6716]

People who call themselves Artists but have others do the work, have missed the point entirely. They are NOT Artists, they are 'commercents' (business people). There IS a difference.

[@NewSymbolist-qt6oi]

Hes a Catholic explains alot).

[@andreaandrea6716]

Argile = Clay.

[@EmperorsNewWardrobe]

I thought all art was propaganda...

[@feralmode]

tobo86 dumbest thing I ever heard

[@EmperorsNewWardrobe]

tinkers, go for it; make your case for why it’s dumb

[@nelsonferreira-aulasdearte]

The silly Stratford tower in east London is the ugliest eyesore, unfortunately made by Kapoor. I still like his old work. Not sure that his paintings are falling apart are a reason for laughing.

[@willemdegroot6959]

Kiefer ≠ Kapoor

[@NewSymbolist-qt6oi]

process dead language of concepts and nonsense .

[@neoseyes]

To say art is spiritual is stupid. Some artists are spiritual.

[@AnnetteDolle]

+Jan Martin Ulvåg The whole essence of art is spirituality. Otherwise it isn't art. Art is always divine.

[@neoseyes]

Annette Dolle Really? Then there is hardly any art on earth.

[@shadowsabere]

Some art is spiritual but not all. Take for example european artists before Van Gogh and Kandinsky there was hardly any "spirituality" in art. Many of the works were decepting scenes related to spirituality but the works themselves were highly materialistic.

[@sjobang]

"Spirit.: the force within a person that is believed to give the body life, energy, and power. : the inner quality or nature of a person." (Merriam-Webster). "Spiritual. : of or relating to a person's spirit. : of or relating to religion or religious beliefs." (Merriam-Webster) Nothing can be produced without a spirit and spirit leavs its imprint on art, as it does on any man made object. I belive Kiefer may mean that to make art is to express your spirit, and not much else, and I think he is quite right about that. He calles it "being spiritual", I would use other words, but in essence I agree with him.

[@neoseyes]

sjobang Look at his face. His body language. Is he calm or in despair? Is he haunted and driven by fear? Is he trusting spirit or very worried? Does he listen to spirit or ego? As Osho said: Some people think they are on a great mission with their ego attached to it. Ego is a beast and when it speaks it should be ignored. Will is of God, as there is no will but Gods will. To do what you want to do is very important. Most artists do what they are told to do by ego. To be guided by spirit means you have to skip consciousness. Consciousness is the domain of the ego. Children are will full and they don't define or describe reality. They express reality because they are reality. Expectations destroy that. To express and create is to extent love. There are traces of proof that spirit was somehow present in any life. Does not mean it is spiritual. Many artist give information in their work. But its more information of what not to do than how to do it. If you do it just right its not even considered art because the intellect cant work with it. On higher levels of existence there is just emotion. Spirits thought are what we consider emotions. On that level everything is floating.

[@EmilyGloeggler7984]

Such nonsense! I think art is boring and useless, even crap has more use than it.

[@AL_THOMAS_777]

You see Emily, even after more than two years not one singular thumb up 4 U. Does that ring a bell ?

[@seanheffle5637]

Haha. You seem like a dumb dumb.

[@TerracottaCellphone]

Crap is art; the toilet bowl is your canvas. Try as you might, you cannot escape the creation of art in all that you do ;)

[@user-kb6yb6ey8q]

Well that says a lot about your spirit!!