George Brecht
EL SOURDOG HEX    (sculptures, drawings and statements, 1959-73)

From January 22 to March 3, 2007, the private art society EL SOURDOG HEX e. V. will display its first exhibit with selected works (sculptures, drawings, and statements 1959-1973) by George Brecht (*1926, New York City).

With the exposition EL SOURDOG HEX, the art society presents a portion of the work by one of the important artists of the Fluxus movement. The name of the society refers to an extensive exhibit with the same title by the artist George Brecht that was shown in New York in 1973.

A student of the musician John Cage and successor to the artist Marcel Duchamp, Brecht began his artistic work in the 1950s. His work played a decisive role in the development of concept art. With George Brecht, the scene of experimental art gained one of its most influential and entertaining artists at the end of the 1950s.

The focus is on his works from the 1960s and 1970s, the so-called event objects -randomly arranged objects of everyday life. He uses them to present things that are normally not noticed, placing them at the center of attention. He attempts to stimulate the observer and get him/her involved because "his goal is an art-like mindfulness in relation to the details of life." Alfred M. Fischer, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Julia Robinson, Events. A Heterospective, Walter König Verlag, Cologne, 2005/2006.
"Each of his projects functions and acts as a microcosmos that is integrated and rooted in his complete works." Quote from an article by MACBA (Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona), George Brecht, Esdeveniments, 2006.

"His work is rich in humor, imagination, full of optimism, intuition, philosophy, romanticism, and poetry," concludes Robin Page 1973, El Sourdog Hex Catalog, Onnasch Gallery, New York, 1973.
The poet Emmett Williams defined him as "an artist who wants to do art for the sake of life."

George Brecht was awarded the Art Prize of Berlin at the Academy of the Arts in 2006.