Gustav Metzger was born in 1926 in Nürnberg, and came to England in 1939 as a refugee from Nazi Europe. During the 1960s and 70s he developed the theory and practice of Auto-destructive Art, an art embodying and proposing itself as an equivalent or a metaphor for the destructive forces existing within society.

"Art arises from the feeling and the knowledge that the line between a generative and a destructive reality is paper-thin"

Recent exhibitions include 'Made New' at City Racing in London and 'Life/Live' at Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, a retrospective at Kunstraum, Munich and participation in a major retrospective of performance art organised by Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.

Links:
Art- Strike
The Refusal of Art
Metzger's_Art_Strike
Kunststreik