blooom

so i took part in the blooom award competition and ended up on the art fair as one of the finalists. it was a great experience (although i didn't win one of the prizes) - among us contenders we had a very friendly atmosphere. i also liked the concept of finding ways to integrate young and independent (i.e. not gallery-represented) art into an established art fair. this is usually not an easy thing to do as the generation of customers/collectors are too old to relate to topics we work with. well, at least this is the case with my work there - who, at the age of 50 to 70 years, has any connection to big ghettoblasters? for people of my age it is a symbol of the early hiphop-culture which we all somehow witnessed (at least everyone grew up with beastie boys, right?). this doesn't mean they all have to like it but it is at least nothing completely unknown. art is always an expression of the zeitgeist and the feeling of a generation and for this reason also a key to understanding the latter. i can't wait to see the art of the young people born into a facebook-world, for sure they will have other focuses than us being born into pre-mobile-phone world. i was feeling already a little bit old when someone told me my work felt nostalgic to him. fortunately there are always those existential things in art everyone can relate to because at the end of the day life holds in some kind of sense the same challenges for everybody. with that wisdom being dropped, greetings to all the blooom award finalists:
anna kubelik (congratulations!), stefan fromberger, marius leneweit & rocio rodríguez, azusa kuno, simona petrauskaite, lesley schulze, katrin elsen, andrea horezky and last not least the boys jan glisman, steffen kraska & david rival
this is the official video about us:

ol' dirty (RIP)

egoshooter

here are some photos from my solo show 'egoshooter' in schwabach:

catholics beware!

this is the last shot my old digicam did before it died. but it is an interesting one. i found it outside a church in poland. it says: 'catholics beware! dangerous signs.' you will find signs you would expect on a list like that but also some that you wouldn't:

r.i.p.

... sigmar polke!

party

brand clash

paris photos

thanks to the man dash for accomodation and food and to michi for the comfortable mattress!

megumi ishibashi, megumi ohguri

during my visit at the cité in paris i got to know two artists from japan, both named megumi.

at first glance megumi ishibashi's sculptures reminded me of niki de saint-phalles' but probably my european perspective might be the reason for this. unlike in japan we - or maybe better: i - don't know too many sculptors working in such a colorful/comic-related way. megumi ishibashi's work has a very positive attitude, her works in public space brighten up the area e.g. abandoned playgrounds, hospitals or landscapes spoilt by concrete. she loves the colors of the rainbow. her favorite medium is some traditional plastic-like material which is made from a japanase tree - unfortunately i can't remember what it's called.



megumi ohguri's photography is both very surrealistic and poetic. it's all analog and mostly black and white but very experimental. ghosts, shadows and colorly reduced overpaintings serve as her means of expression but she also uses projections in a black box to combine two photos. megumi ohguri has made a beautiful book called 'a make believe diary' combining her photographic work with self-written poems.

jack wolfskin

everybody and their moms is wearing jack wolfskin gear these days - it is starting to drive me crazy. a friend of mine who spent some time down under told me germans are infamous there for their outdoor/functional dress code. sometimes i get the impression those people go shopping, thinking 'screw trying to find something that fits me - let's just wear what everyone else does', not sure if this is a typically german attitude. i found a nice article on this topic (in german though) where it's already called the new 'deutsche uniform':

link

interview

last year i was interviewed by the federal employment agency for their info-brochures which are supposed to help kids in finding the right job. they asked me what it's like to be an artist. the brochures are out now in job centers nationwide.

overview

ruste juxx and marco polo interview

ruste and marco speak about their new project 'the exxecution' coming out this year. plus ruste kicks some killer rhymes. can't wait for this one!