Projects

2. Interview Rza Davis talks with Timothy Comeau about his Joseph Beuys Petition

RD: Timothy, why did you start the Joseph Beuys at the Ago petition?

TC: Because Joseph Beuys is an interesting artist whose work I want to be able to see more of. I made a painting of that blackboard in art school but I’ve never been able to see it in person. I went to the AGO in the summer of 97 looking for it and it wasn’t there. That was five years ago. As far as I know, it hasn’t been displayed during this time. Meanwhile, you have that fucking rotting foam hamburger, kitchen sink and mediocre Andy Warhol hanging around boring me and I’m sure many other people. I asked people I knew who worked there if they could get the Beuys blackboard out of storage but they didn’t have any luck. So I started the petition.

RD: What kind of response has it gotten?

TC: Well, it’s been a little disappointing. Only got about 65 signatures in two months. Well, no, now that I think of it, that’s pretty good. I got some interesting responses. One person just wrote instead of their name “Poor Joseph Beuys (not like any of us undiscovered starving artists without representation at the AGO, my heart bleeds)” which I thought is a good point about that institution’s relationship to the city. One girl emailed me to say that she wouldn’t sign it because Beuys sucked. Well, you know that’s not the point. Maybe he did suck, but the question is, shouldn’t we get the chance to decide that for ourselves? I mean, at this point, I know Claes Oldenburg sucks. When I first started this and was spreading the word, a lot of discussion was generated on just how much stuff they have in storage that we never get to see, and it could get a little passionate. It’s a can of worms. Or, if you prefer another metaphor to that tired one, “you know you shouldn’t touch toads cuz they give you warts”. I heard that in a French movie that was set in my old hometown during the 19th Century.

RD: That’s an old wive’s tale and the source of your quote is irrelevant to Beuys.

TC: I know, but when you think about it, maybe not – we know today that toads don’t give you warts, but it’s still funny to hear and it reflects what people thought 150 years ago. And in some ways, I think that’s what Beuys was about, making work that was sometimes humorous, indulging it with this mythical bullshit that had roots in the past, and reminding us that art should not be seen as separate from life. Every time you make dinner you’re creating something, and every time you write a grocery list you’re drawing. This past summer I got into a conversation with a couple of the Catholic kids and after learning that I was an artist asked me to draw for them. So I did, and because I was put on the spot it was a really bad drawing. So I apologized, and they say, ” Oh, it’s really good, I can’t draw at all”. The correct answer for that, although it always escapes me in the awkwardness of the occasion, is “if you can write you can draw, since learning the alphabet is a matter of learning to draw shapes.” I found an old notebook from Grade 1 a couple of years ago I used while learning the alphabet and I could see that I was struggling with it. Now it’s unconscious. Anyone can do it if they want to take the time.

RD: I’m not sure I agree with you that Beuys is relevant in uniting art and life, since, as you say, his work was infused with “mythical bullshit”. That type of thing seems to emphasize artificial hierarchical divisions.

TC: That’s true, but that’s what his work means to *me*. I like the fact that this blackboard is essentially his lecture notes. I watched the video of the lecture he gave when he drew it while I was in art school, and that’s what impressed me. If his lecture notes can be considered a drawing, and fund a scholarship, why weren’t all the other lecture notes I’d seen scrawled across the blackboards of gradeschool and university given the same aesthetic status? I really took to that idea of markmaking. I started to look into his drawing more, and I like his drawings precisely because they’re so bad: I’ve tried and it’s impossible to draw as badly as that. (Even my drawing for the Catholic still retained some skill). In all of this, there’s an attraction, I guess because of his celebrity, because of his notoriety, and the point of the petition is that the public in Toronto deserves to experience that, and be given the opportunity to let his work mean something to *them*, instead of a contemplating a sink in a canvas, or seeing in person an Andy Warhol they’ve already seen a million times on tv.

RD: I heard that one person thought your write up stank and so even though they agreed with you, they couldn’t put their name to it.

TC: Yeah, I did write it in haste, and had to bite my tongue about the resentment I feel for their boring shows (except the David Hoffos one this summer was pretty good). I tried to flatter them instead. It’s an awkward write up, I agree, but I’d like to thank you Rza, for giving me the opportunity to better explain myself.

RD: Why, you’re welcome. So where should people go to sign this if they agree with you?

TC: http://www.petitiononline.com/beuys/