HYLAND
At this year's Armory Show, Sean Kelly Gallery
exhibited a specially curated presentation of more than
twenty iconic multiples and editions by Joseph Beuys,
a rare opportunity for New Yorkers to experience this
central facet of the artist's work. For,
in the case of Beuys, the multiple was
not a marketing tool, but an essential
mode of communication with the widest
audience possible.
Joseph Beuys' 1970 multiple, Felt
Suit, was the first work of Conceptual
art I ever beheld. It was also the first
important work of art I encountered in
a private house, namely that of the late
collectors, Sondra and Alfred Ordover,
in Los Angeles, in about 1971. The
outsized garment was suspended, high
above our heads, from the banister of
their staircase. I was fascinated, impressed and puzzled;
the suit communicated something to me but I could not
say what. Perhaps I was simply surprised at seeing a
garment, seemingly too big to wear, being displayed as
something other than an object of attire, hanging from a
flight of stairs rather than in a closet.
Of his work with editions, Beuys himself said, "I'm
interested in the distribution of physical vehicles in the
Cuprum 0.3% unguentum metallicum praeparatum, 1978-86
7 5/8 x 4 1/4 x 4 1/8 inches
edition of 18, with 5 APs
Photo by Jason Wyche
Courtesy Sean Kelly, New York
