Gustav Metzger

Gustav Metzger is an artist and political activist who developed the concept of Auto- Destructive Art and the Art Strike. Together with John Sharkey, he initiated the Destruction in Art Symposium in 1966. Metzger is recognized for his protests in the political and artistic realms.

Metzger was born to Polish-Jewish parents in Nuremberg, Germany in 1926 and came to Britain as a refugee under the auspices of the Refugee Children Movement. Metzger is known as a leading exponent of the Auto-Destructive Art and the Art Strike movements. He was also involved in the movement. He was also active in the Committee of 100 and took part in their early anti-nuclear base campaigns of direct action and occupation.

In 1959 he published the first auto-destructive manifesto Auto-Destructive Art. This was given as a lecture to the Architecture Association in 1964, which was taken over by students as an artistic 'Happening'. In 1961, he participated in the Festival of Misfits with the Fluxus group, in Gallery One, . He exhibited the front page of the Daily Mirror covering the Vietnam War. His contribution was rejected and removed by other participants.

In 2005 he selected EASTinternational which he proclaimed to be ‘The art exhibition without the art.’ Metzger has continued to make challenging art works around the world. Throughout the 60 years that Metzger has been producing politically aggressive works, he incorporated materials ranging from trash to old newspapers, liquid crystals to industrial materials, and even acid.

In 2009 the Serpentine Gallery in London featured the most extensive exhibition ever in the U.K. of Gustav Metzger’s work.

Notable works

Public Demonstration of Auto-Destructive Art (Original made in 1960, remade as 'Recreation of First Public Demonstration of Auto-Destructive Art' in 2004).

Demonstration at the South Bank, London, 1961 Acid action painting

“Acid action painting. Height 7 ft, Length 12' 6". Depth 6 ft. Materials: nylon, hydrochloric acid, metal. Technique. 3 nylon canvases coloured white black red are arranged behind each other, in this order. Acid is painted, flung and sprayed onto the nylon which corrodes at point of contact within 15 seconds.” – Gustav Metzger

Construction with glass

Construction with glass. Height 13 ft. Width 9' 6". Materials. Glass, metal, adhesive tape. Technique. The glass sheets suspended by adhesive tape fall on to the concrete ground in a pre-arranged sequence. - Gustav Metzger

Liquid Crystal Environment (Original made in 1965, remade in 2005).

Historic Photographs Enlarged press photographs of catastrophic events of the 20th century.

Recreation of First Public Demonstration of Auto- Destructive Art A recreation of the original demonstration made in 1960. An integral piece of the installation at the Britain, a bag containing rubbish, was erroneously disposed by a cleaner on 30 June 2004. Metzger declared the piece ruined and created a new bag as a replacement.

Influences The painter taught Metzger and was influential in his development. Influenced Around the same time, he was lecturing at Ealing Art College, where one of his students was rock musician , who later cited Metzger's concepts as an influence for his famous guitar-smashing during performances of . He has also influenced the self-eating computer virus works by the digital artist Joseph Nechvatal.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Metzger)