Beuys thought art important for energising society and reconciliation with nature – we are inter-connected with all
He was a mysterious self mythologising artist, his use of the anti-art materials lard and felt he said originated from when he was in the Luftwaffe, shot down and nursed in these materials
For this performance Beuys flew to New York, was covered in felt taken by ambulance from the Airport to the New York gallery
For most of the eight hours a day over three days locked in with the coyote he remained hidden beneath his felt blanket. Not much happened
The coyote is a sacred animal in native American mythology
This coyote was actually half-wolf, half-husky
The coyote was indifferent to the artistic allegory.
Joseph Beuys, ‘I Like America and America Likes Me’ (performance, 1974)
