Neil Powell - England

Sut i esbonio celf i arlunydd marw
How to explain pictures to a dead artist

Neil Powell's performance for the 2009 Biennale, "ERKLÄREN VON KUNST EINEM TOTEN KÜNSTLER", can be seen as a homage, this work echoes the absurdity of Beuys' performance of November 26 1965. The artist visited Beuys' studio in Dusseldorf in 1985 shortly before his death one year later and this encounter made a lasting impression on Powell. Powell's performance cites the contradictions in relaying mortality through decoration. Damien Hirst's 'The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living (1992), perhaps comes closest to Powell's sentiments for this particular event.