En
anden af mine kunstneriske inspirationskilder er den østriske
performancekunstner og Wieneraktionist Otto Muehl.
Otto
Muehl,(1925-2013) var sammen med bl.a. Gunter Brus, Oswald Wiener og
Hermann Nitsch en af grundlæggerne af
den såkaldte Wieneraktionisme. Muhl ville overvinde det
traditionelle maleris borgerlighed med sine ”ødelæggelsesprocesser”
og kropsaktioner. Hans kunst er både udstillet på Louvre og på
Museum of Contemporary Art i Chicago.
Otto
Muehls kunstneriske arbejde kombinerede ofte både sex, vold,
kropsudslip og gastronomi. Hans ”malerier” havde klare referencer
til den amerikanske aktionpainter Jackson Pollock og kropskunstneren
Chris Burden. Otto Muehl malede i begyndelsen på traditionel vis ,
men mente at selve menneskekroppen kunne tjene bedre som lærred for
hans rå og kompromisløse æstetik. Han oversprøjtede sine nøgne
emner med alt fra suppe, juice, mælk, æggehvide, blod, organer fra
dyr til afføring. Et af Otto Muehls mottoer var ”Jeg nyder at
forstyrre mennesker, Det er min store ide, jeg vil ikke andet”
De
østriske myndigheder betragtede Muehls aktioner som en trussel mod
den offentlige moral og til tider også som en trussel mod den
offentlige sikkerhed. Han blev bl.a. anholdt og fængslet for en
forestilling, der indebar at smide et køkkenbord fyldt med mel og
marmelade ud af et vindue.
Mange
af Otto Muehls kunstaktioner blev filmet af den østriske filmmager
Kurt Kren. Disse kultfilm blev lavet samtidig med Mary Poppins, My
Fair Lady og A Hard Days Night og viser hvor langt Otto Muehl befandt
sig fra den konventionelle filmverden og æstetik.
Otto
Muehl genoptog senere maleriet og udførte her forskellige parodier
af f.eks. Hitler og Mother Theresa i en seksuel kontekst.
Han
ville gerne gå videre og forene kunst og liv og grundlagde derfor i
begyndelsen af 1970'erne ”Friedrichshof Kommune” i Østrig, et
slags kult kollektiv eller antisamfund, der talte op mod 600
medlemmer og som havde som mål og ideologi at nedbryde den
traditionelle familiestruktur og afvise al privat egendom. Man
skulle leve i polygami og Muehl fik 11 børn med flere forskellige
kvinder i kommunen.
I
1990'erne opløstes kommunen og Muehl blev anklaget for at være en
autoritær sektleder der både blev beskyldt for seksuelle krænkelser
og narkotikaforbrydelser. Han kom 7 år i fængsel og grundlagde i
1997 en ny lille kommune i Portugal, hvor han levede til sin død.
Otto
Muehl gik efterhånden bort fra aktionerne og koncentrerede sig om
maleriet. I Friedrichshof kommunen malede han i ekspressionistisk
stil og arbejdede også som kunstlærer. Under sit fængselsophold
malede Muehl over 300 billeder og skrev også en del kunstteori. I
2002 udviklede han noget han kaldte ”elektriske” malerier, hvor
han ved hjælp af en computer og en pen malede digitale billeder og
bearbejdede dem i et filmprogram. I 2010 fejrede Muehl sin 85 års
fødselsdag på Leopoold Museum i Wien og undskyldte her sin opførsel
i Friedrichshof Kommunen.
Otto
Muehl led i sin alderdom af Parkinsons og han døde i Portugal i 2013
som 87 årig.
English
version:
Another
of my artistic inspiration sources is the Austrian performance artist
and Vienna-activist Otto Muehl.
Otto Muehl, (1925-2013) was among others as, Gunter Brus, Oswald Wiener and Hermann Nitsch, one of the founders of the so-called Vienna-actionism. Muhl would overcome the civilization of traditional painting with its "destruction processes" and body actions. His art is both displayed at the Louvre and at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago.
Otto Muehl's artistic work often combined sex, violence, body fatigue and gastronomy. His "paintings" had clear references to the American action-painter Jackson Pollock and body-artist Chris Burden. Otto Muehl initially painted in the traditional way, but thought that the human body could serve better as a canvas for his raw and uncompromising aesthetics. He sprinkled his naked items with everything from soup, juice, milk, egg white, blood, organs from faeces to stools. One of Otto Muehl's mottos was "I enjoy interfering with people, it's my big idea, I do not want anything else"
The Austrian authorities considered Muehl's actions as a threat to public morality and at times also as a threat to public security. He became Arrested and imprisoned for a performance that meant throwing a kitchen table filled with flour and jam out of a window.
Many of Otto Muehl's art actions were filmed by the Austrian film maker Kurt Kren. These cult films were made at the same time as Mary Poppins, My Fair Lady and A Hard Days Night, showing how far Otto Muehl was from the conventional film world and aesthetics.
Otto Muehl resumed painting and performed different parodies of, for example, Hitler and Mother Theresa in a sexual context.
He wanted to move on and unite art and life and founded therefore "Friedrichshof Municipality" in Austria,in the early 1970s. A kind of cult collective or anti-community whit up to 600 members and whose goal and ideology was to break down the traditional Family structure and reject all private property. One had to live in polygamy and Muehl had 11 children with several different women in the municipality.
In the 1990s, the municipality was dissolved and Muehl was accused of being an authoritarian leder of a sect, and was both accused of sexual offenses and drug crimes. He came in prison for 7 years and founded in 1997 a new small municipality in Portugal where he lived until his death.
Otto Muehl gradually abandoned the actions and focused on painting. In the Friedrichshof municipality, he painted in expressionist style and also worked as an art teacher. During his years in prison, Muehl painted over 300 pictures and also wrote some art theory. In 2002, he developed something he called "electric" paintings, using a computer and a pen to paint digital images and editing them in a movie program. In 2010, Muehl celebrated his 85th birthday at the Leopoold Museum in Vienna, and apologized for his behavior in the Friedrichshof Municipality.
Otto Muehl, (1925-2013) was among others as, Gunter Brus, Oswald Wiener and Hermann Nitsch, one of the founders of the so-called Vienna-actionism. Muhl would overcome the civilization of traditional painting with its "destruction processes" and body actions. His art is both displayed at the Louvre and at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago.
Otto Muehl's artistic work often combined sex, violence, body fatigue and gastronomy. His "paintings" had clear references to the American action-painter Jackson Pollock and body-artist Chris Burden. Otto Muehl initially painted in the traditional way, but thought that the human body could serve better as a canvas for his raw and uncompromising aesthetics. He sprinkled his naked items with everything from soup, juice, milk, egg white, blood, organs from faeces to stools. One of Otto Muehl's mottos was "I enjoy interfering with people, it's my big idea, I do not want anything else"
The Austrian authorities considered Muehl's actions as a threat to public morality and at times also as a threat to public security. He became Arrested and imprisoned for a performance that meant throwing a kitchen table filled with flour and jam out of a window.
Many of Otto Muehl's art actions were filmed by the Austrian film maker Kurt Kren. These cult films were made at the same time as Mary Poppins, My Fair Lady and A Hard Days Night, showing how far Otto Muehl was from the conventional film world and aesthetics.
Otto Muehl resumed painting and performed different parodies of, for example, Hitler and Mother Theresa in a sexual context.
He wanted to move on and unite art and life and founded therefore "Friedrichshof Municipality" in Austria,in the early 1970s. A kind of cult collective or anti-community whit up to 600 members and whose goal and ideology was to break down the traditional Family structure and reject all private property. One had to live in polygamy and Muehl had 11 children with several different women in the municipality.
In the 1990s, the municipality was dissolved and Muehl was accused of being an authoritarian leder of a sect, and was both accused of sexual offenses and drug crimes. He came in prison for 7 years and founded in 1997 a new small municipality in Portugal where he lived until his death.
Otto Muehl gradually abandoned the actions and focused on painting. In the Friedrichshof municipality, he painted in expressionist style and also worked as an art teacher. During his years in prison, Muehl painted over 300 pictures and also wrote some art theory. In 2002, he developed something he called "electric" paintings, using a computer and a pen to paint digital images and editing them in a movie program. In 2010, Muehl celebrated his 85th birthday at the Leopoold Museum in Vienna, and apologized for his behavior in the Friedrichshof Municipality.
Otto Muehl suffered in his last years of Parkinson's and died in Portugal in 2013, 87 years old.
