In the oeuvre of Günter Brus, these two energies 
become mingled in a violent, combative clash 
marked by tumultuous and dynamic developments, 
as well as by his exuberant, audacious, and exper 
imental curiosity. His brilliant and sharp mind, his 
radical, excessive, and dramatic emotionality en 
gender explosive, anarchic entities. He knows much, 
he is an expert of the human condition, and he at- 
tempts to show, and familiarize himself with, all 
mental and psychological mechanisms. He will balk 
at nothing, on the contrary: driven by an almost 
pathological Obsession and curiosity, he pursues 
the motions of ambivalent and unfettered passion 
and the manipulation of lies. He wants to shed light 
on everything the indomitable, dark, and demon- 
ic powers inherent in human beings just as much 
as the destructive, manipulative, and repressive 
strategies devised by those holding power. His ex- 
aggerations and dramatic excesses give free rein to 
imagination, but this imagination is closely con 
nected to our experiences with social, cultural, pub 
lic, ideological, mental, and historical realities. And 
this is exactly the dramatic and enlightening char- 
acter of Brus's works: his radical and taboo-break- 
ing exposure of the links between personal, inti- 
mate, hidden, and pathological moments and public, 
social, cultural, conventional, ostensibly well-func- 
tioning mental structures legitimized by traditions 
and moral principles. Thanks to the artist's astute 
observations, their dysfunctions and pathologies 
are mercilessly exposed. 
Günter Brus walks the precariously thin line be 
tween methods still under control, still held in check 
by analytical reason and the utter chaos of obses 
sive, excessive, pathological, and destructive mech 
anisms that he is keen to disclose while being in an 
"unprotected" state. This allows him to detect their 
concealed structures, to reveal their secrets, and to 
identify their effects while fighting and neutraliz- 
ing them. And this is precisely the most dramatic 
and decisive question: Where and how are these 
mental, psychological, and emotional energies trans- 
formed, how do these tormenting, radical, obses 
sive, emotional, and intellectual perspectives evolve 
so that they can liberate humans from repressive 
hierarchies or, conversely, dominate them by resort- 
ing to manipulative mechanisms? Günter Brus de 
votes all of his attention to this bitter, never-end- 
ing, obsessive, and excessive search for hidden 
mental, social, and cultural mechanisms, and he 
wants to experience and try out everything. This 
obstinacy invariably entails self-destructive ele- 
ments, the dangerous act of playing different roles, 
ranging from that of the perpetrator to that of the 
victim. Cruel, destructive, cynical, pathological, 
hegemonic, and manipulative aspects are exposed 
in a radical and uncompromising fashion, and ex- 
cessively explored. This is done to elucidate their 
dark, dangerous, obsessive, and demonic qualities, 
to give them a recognizable shape, and to disclose 
them in the process. By doing so, the artist jeop- 
ardizes his distance and autonomy, he runs the risk 
of hurting and losing himself in this dangerous game 
of self-identification. Hence, his actions are accom- 
panied by fear, and his fear and anger form an ex 
plosive, pathological, anarchic, cathartic, seduc- 
tive, and intriguing whole. 
Brus's radical, unconventional, activist, invariably 
stimulating, impetuous, and pugnacious humanism 
unveils cruelty, ugliness, brutality, pathology, pet- 
tiness, and stupidity. The artist hates hypocritical 
pseudo-morality, repetitive, insipid, and numbing- 
ly soothing attempts at beautification, as well as 
intellectually scandalous half-truths. He wants to 
capture the genuine and authentic, and his ap- 
proach involves the disclosure of gruesome and un- 
bearable repressions and lies. In his oeuvre the act 
of liberation is boisterous, brimming with rage, fury, 
hatred, irony, and refusal. His excessive longing to 
wipe out the spurious values he so abhors as well 
as these disgusting, seemingly innocuous lies is a 
self-critical reflection of his own bitterness and 
ruthlessness. By taking on the role of a destroyer, 
by playing it in a seething and raving state of mind 
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