1-2 of 2 Results  for:

  • Fluxus and Happenings x
  • Patron, Collector, or Dealer x
Clear all

Article

John-Paul Stonard

(b Düsseldorf, April 11, 1939; d Düsseldorf, Nov 24, 1996).

German painter and dealer. He studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf (19587ndash;62) and in 1963 co-staged two events, part exhibition and part happening, that betrayed the influence of both Pop art and the Fluxus movement. The first, Malerei und Grafik. Sonderausstellung, was organized with fellow graduates Sigmar Polke, Gerhard Richter and Manfred Kuttner in May of that year, in a disused shop at 31A Kaiserstrasse in Düsseldorf. The impact of popular contemporary trends from France, Britain and the USA was evident in the second happening that Lueg staged with Richter five months later, Leben mit Pop – eine Demonstration für den Kapitalischen Realismus, in a furniture department store (Möbelhaus Berges, Flingerstrasse 11, Düsseldorf). This featured the two artists as living sculptures alongside papier-mâché figures of American President John F. Kennedy and the art dealer Alfred Schmela, as well as works by Lueg, Richter and Joseph Beuys, amongst the furniture displays. The event was critical not only of the consumerism of post-war West Germany, but also of the art scene in Düsseldorf, which was dominated by Galerie and by the Zero group. Lueg’s subsequent work under the banner of ‘Capitalist Realism’ was a loose exploration of both popular imagery and commercial patterns, in paintings such as ...

Article

Achim Sommer

(b Leipzig, Dec 20, 1921).

German dentist and collector. He developed an interest in fine art as a boy, but immediately after completing his schooling in 1940 he was called up for military service and taken prisoner of war, which ruled out the possibility of studying history of art. He trained as a dentist from 1948 to 1955, setting up his own practice in 1959 and establishing himself at Markgröningen, near Stuttgart, in 1965. Sohm began in the early 1960s to establish a systematic and historically important documentary collection covering all forms of performance art (especially those associated with Fluxus and with American artists involved with Happenings), concrete poetry and ‘underground’ literature. In doing this he proceeded with positivist meticulousness, paying attention to innumerable peripheral areas and including in his archive printed material such as books, magazines, manifestos, pamphlets, invitations and other ephemera; records, tapes, films, photographs, autographs and prints; and many original works.

In its totality the Archiv Sohm highlighted, on an international scale, the blurring of boundaries between conventional media that took place during the 1960s. Sohm corresponded and travelled widely to make contact with artists and institutions. In his house in ...