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“There is a kind of consensus in the world out there that Joseph Beuys was one of the most significant post-war artists, certainly in Germany, and probably in the world. Because the period 1933 to 1945 basically brought incredible havoc in the world and there was real need. Either nothing could happen or one had to really start again.” — Norman Rosenthal

Joseph Beuys: Utopia at the Stag Monuments, Curated by Norman Rosenthal, is at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, London from April 17, 2018 through June 16, 2018.

On June 6, 2018, Norman Rosenthal, Antony Gormley, and Louisa Buck will be in conversation on Joseph Beuys at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, London, in collaboration with The Art Newspaper.

From Galerie Theddaeus Ropac, London:

“In a time in which art is commodified and in some sense made into a trophy, where it’s institutionalized and intellectualized, the urgency of Beuys saying to us we are all artists and we are all together making the world for better or for worse, is a critical message.”

Watch curator Norman Rosenthal and artist Antony Gormley discussing Joseph Beuys: Utopia at the Stag Monuments, the most important UK exhibition of Beuys’ work in over a decade, on view at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac until 16 June 2018 (37 Dover Street, London). Walking us through the works in each of the gallery spaces, they offer their insights into the works and the artist himself.

Joseph Beuys famously declared: every man is an artist. He believed in the revolutionary power of art to unlock the potential for creativity in everyone and, by extension, to transform society. His utopian vision of social transformation through individual creativity and self-determination was expressed through his art, but also through Actions, lectures and sustained political activism.

“Here is somebody who saw a world disintegrate because of ideology and wanted to find a deeper source of truth than appearances.”