Metzger was a young Polish Jewish refugee who came to this country just as the WWII broke out in 1939. After the war he studied art at the academy in Antwerp in 1948-49 and he became an artist.
Originating from Nuremberg, Germany, Metzger was steaped in a more performative approach to making art and following his formal training he adopted what we would recognise now as a more activist outlook focussing on anti-nuclear proliferation and environmental protection.
In the late 1950s, he became a leading figure in a radical art movement, coalescing under the term 'Auto-Destructive Art'. He and a small group of artists like John Sharkey, questioned the idea of art being object based, acting upon the hypothisis that artists did not need to be involved in the making of more stuff, and that in fact it was more creatively relevent to embark on a practice that reversed this process, by destroying the art object and interupting and subverting the conventions of cultural production.
Toward the end of his life in 2015, Metzger initiated the Remember Nature project which invited all artists to address the crisis within nature. He intended to bring awareness to the damages that continue to devastate our natural world. Remember Nature was organised by Metzger and curators to be a designated day of action.
A Worldwide Call By Artist Gustav Metzger To Remember Nature
Students from Central Saint Martins respond to Gustav Metzger's worldwide call for a Day of Action to Remember Nature at Central St Martins on November 4, 2015 in London, England. (Photo © Tristan Fewings/Getty Images for Serpentine Galleries)
At a launch event that took place at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design and at art schools nationwide on the day, Metzger said:
“The art, architecture and design world needs to take a stand against the ongoing erasure of species – even where there is little chance of ultimate success. It is our privilege and our duty to be at the forefront of the struggle. There is no choice but to follow the path of ethics into aesthetics. We live in societies suffocating in waste. Our task is to remind people of the richness and complexity in nature; to protect nature as far as we can and by doing so art will enter new territories that are inherently creative.” Gustav Metzger, 4 November, 2015.
The event was presented in numerous galleries and museums and artist groups across the country.
Our event on 4 Novemebr will be an opportunity to take a tour of 'Fluid Earth' currently open at Groundwork Gallery, followed by drinks at Woolmarket House, King's Lynn.
To celebrate Remember Nature, GroundWork Gallery invite all to join a discussion about the current climate in connection with current exhibition, Fluid Earth. Which explores the often uncomfortable fluidity of the earth’s environment, along with our attitudes and identities.
The tour of Fluid Earth will be followed by a visit and drinks reception at Woolmarket House, five minutes away on foot to see the fifteenth century building which served as Metzger’s studio whilst he lived in King’s Lynn.
This will be hosted by Paul Barratt and Paul Vater who run Contemporary and Country. Metzger's former home now houses viewing room events with a rolling programme of contemporary and applied art.
MORE ABOUT THIS EVENT ON EVENTBRITE
C&C's new exhibition at Woolmarket House is of North Sea Studies by Peter Wylie and recent shell work by Carolyn Brookes-Davies - avaiooable to view during this visit.
MORE ABOUT VIEWING ROOM 04
Related artist
About the author
Paul Vater
PAUL VATER
Paul conducts studio visits to maintain strong relationships with artists, designers and craftspeople who show their work with us. He manages the main C&C website and has developed the online shop where selected works are presented for sale.
Paul established his design company, Sugarfree, in 1990 and quickly gained a reputation for delivering fresh, effective marketing campaigns and brand identities for clients including Save the Children Fund, United Nations Association and UNHCR. Over the years those added to the roster include IPC Magazines, Arts Council England, The Roundhouse, Barbican Centre, Arts Marketing Association, Look Ahead Housing and Care, Paddington Waterside, BBC Worldwide, Commonwealth Foundation, Prestel, City of London Corporation, Baker Street Quarter, Victoria BID and the University of East Anglia.