Untitled

The varying textures of spattered, blood red paint in this work are the result of a performance piece. Hermann Nitsch, who has for decades been orchestrating his ongoing "Orgies Mysteries Theater" series, threw paint on paper before he and several participants trampled over it in a frenzied state. Nitsch and other Austrian artists associated with Vienna Actionism (a movement regularly featured in Cologne exhibitions) celebrated extreme, sometimes violent and sexual experiences as spiritual rebellions against a repressive modern society. According to Nitsch, red is “the color of ecstasy…the color of the most intense life.”