Viennese Actionism
One art movement that really speaks to me is Viennese Actionism, which began in Austria during the 1960s. This movement was very intense and emotional. Artists like Hermann Nitsch and Rudolf Schwarzkogler used the human body, blood, and dramatic performances to express pain, trauma, and deep emotions. They wanted to shock people and make them think about violence, religion, and history especially the effects of World War II. Their work wasn’t meant to be pretty. It was raw, messy, and often hard to watch, but that’s what makes it powerful. I made a piece using smeared paint, torn fabric, and layers of recorded sound to explore similar feelings of pain, memory, and identity. When I look at my work next to Nitsch’s performance art, I notice how we both use the body and physical materials to say something emotional and real, even if it’s uncomfortable.
Beat poets
I also feel a strong connection to the Beat Poets and the artists who were part of that scene in the 1950s and 60s in the United States. Writers like Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac focused on freedom, honesty, and living outside the rules of regular society. They wrote and created art in a spontaneous, emotional way, often inspired by jazz music, dreams, and spiritual ideas. Visual artists connected to this movement, like Jay DeFeo and Wallace Berman, worked in a similar style, using found objects, collage, and loose, expressive techniques. I made a mixed-media collage that includes torn newspaper pieces, handwritten poems, and brushstrokes done quickly and freely. When I look at it next to one of Berman’s collages or DeFeo’s layered paintings, I feel that same sense of creative freedom. While Viennese Actionism helps me dive into serious, emotional topics, the Beat movement reminds me to trust my instincts and create from a place of honesty and freedom.
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