Hermann Nitsch 75TH Painting Action at MARC STRAUS

James Kalm drops into the Marc Straus Gallery and brings viewers along for a tour of Hermann Nitsch’s 75th Painting Action. As a founding member of the Viennese Actionists, Nitsch has been performing his painting actions since 1960. This show also presents a selection of paintings from the last twenty years from the “Schuttsbild” series as well. “Nitsch’s vision has been anchored in the Wagnerian ideal of the complete work of art, a Gesamtkunstwerk which combines painting, theater, drawing, music, print-making and life itself”. Although these works have an analogous relation to New York Action painting their ceremonial fabrication is presented as an episode in Nitsch’s Das Orgien Mysterien Theater. This program was recorded 17 September, 2017