Following Joseph Beuys’ death in 1986, Jörg Schellman and Bernd Klüser co-published a portfolio of thirty artworks from thirty artists to commemorate Beuys’ life. Over the previous two decades, Schellmann and Klüser collaborated frequently with Beuys on exhibitions, books and many innovative editioned artworks. Beuys was a leading figure in the Fluxus and Conceptual Art movements and he fervently championed the potency of the idea and the transformative ability of art in society. Like Beuys, the artists invited to contribute to the portfolio, including Keith Haring, Cindy Sherman and Nam June Paik, were trailblazers of contemporary art, working against the grain to subvert the status quo.
“When an artist uses a conceptual form of art it means that all of the planning and decisions are made beforehand, and the execution is a perfunctory affair. The idea becomes a machine that makes the art.”
—Sol LeWitt
