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I think the tree is an element of regeneration which in itself is a concept of time. The oak is especially so because it is a slowly growing tree with a kind of really solid heartwood. It has always been a form of sculpture, a symbol for this planet.

— Joseph Beuys Joseph Beuys (1982)

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More quotes by Joseph Beuys

This is precisely what the shaman does in order to bring about change and development: his nature is therapeutic.

I try to go further on over the threshold where modern art ends and anthropological art has to start.

Even the act of peeling a potato can be an artistic act if it is consciously done.

Art is the only power to free humankind from all repression.

My intention: healthy chaos, healthy amorphousness in a known medium which consciously warmed a cold, torpid form from the past, a convention of society, and which makes possible future forms.

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Joseph Beuys (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.