long before i’ve lived in the city and had a clue about art at all i was kid in love with a skaterboy how introduced me to lowdown magazine, a berlin based magazine on “popular culture and the art of moving”, whereby i came across with my first artist interview. it was probably somebody like ed temleton or mike mills, two of my favorite artists to this day, i can’t remember, but i do remember since then i was hooked and read the art and music features religiously, although i still had no clue. what i liked the most was the honest and insightful view these interviews could give you, due to their relatively simple questions. cause, by all means, all you wanted to know was, what the hell did you do that you now do what you do?
today, still driven by the same question, i start out with our first feature by introcducing you to a young american talent christopher samuels, artist and co- owner of org contemporary from detroit.
how did you get into making art and especially into sculpture making?
well i’ve always drawn and made music, even at an early age. i didn’t start seriously making objects until about 4 years ago. before that it was only music. at some point the music started to fade out of the forefront and these objects became more important to me. during this time i started painting as i felt it would be a natural progression from the drawing. i quickly realized that i was no painter though as i would get increasingly mad and upset at these pictures and would destroy them. as a reaction to my lack of painting abilities i started to add elements of 3D objects into the paintings. as time went on i realized that i was more interested in the objects in the paintings then the paintings themselves and so i removed the objects, placed them on the ground and here i am.
how is your work coming together?
i think its a struggle. i think its always going to be a struggle. sometimes things hit, sometimes things aren t hitting. i do believe that i’ve hit on something good. but you know, that could end at any time. i really believe in what i like to call the initial. that kind of snap in your head that really sparks what could be a series of new work. i believe that initial is more pure and holds more weight then the more drawn out cycle of work that would have stemmed from the initial. i try to continuously work off those initial sparks to keep things fresh for me. i mean, i try to make work thats new and interesting to me first.
the ideas that are coming out of me as of late have a lot to do with who i am, where i came from and process itself. i try to mingle these concepts together to form a mirror of myself. i come from a lower-middle class family and we didnt have alot of nice or new things. i enjoy combining those low cost relics of my upbringing with more thought out conceptual ideas. Im interested in the acts of making new ‘art’ objects vs the comforting recognizable objects of my past.
please tell me more about your last sculpture series untiteld…2009 and your work an intervention with earth…2009
untitled… 2009
black metal studs
the untitled… works have alot to do with what i mention earlier with process. these works are timelines of so called “finished objects’. i specifically wanted to remove the object somewhere in between the beginning of process and end to highlight the inherit quality in these materials. a good example would be the fiberglass pieces. i really enjoy the surface qualities of fiberglass. it resembles that of fine silk, or other expensive fabrics. In typical practice the artist would use these sheets of fiberglass as a base for pouring resin on to then mold it into whatever they wished. i wanted to highlight the fiberglass itself and to keep it a step or two away from the so called ‘finished object.’ Same goes for the stud pieces. stud walls are meant to be the underlaying part to the ‘finished product’ (a wall) and yet they are perfect in subtly as they are.
untitled… 2009
fiberglass, glue, glue transfer, spraypaint
an intervention with earth… photos work on the same level. i did not however have anything to do with the physical environment. i simply observed and captured. this area must have been prepped for a new structure because all of the earth had been moved around as one could see the tire tracks in the photos. after the earth was moved nature took over and grass started to grow over the bulldozed areas and water started to fill huge pits. here i was able to realize the same idea with a timeline. i was able to capture the in between of start and finish to show the greatness of moved earth itself.
an intervention with earth… 2009
inkjet print, 13 x 19 inches
what are you working on right now?
i’ve been getting more interested in video and so i am working on one right now. if all goes well it should be broadcasted on New York public access TV organized by artist Jeffery Tranchell. Also, im getting work ready for a solo show at Detroit Industrial Project (D.I.P) opening in April.
5 essential artist
Robert Raushenberg
Marcel Duchamp
Michelangelo Pistoletto
Caravaggio
Bruce Nauman
what are your sources of inspiration for your work?
alot of it comes from my hillbilly family. i was shaped, formed and informed by them. all of the disfunction and attitude comes from that.
since you’ re an artist by yourself, how and when did it all start with org contemporary? what’s the idea and motivation behind it? who else is involved?
org just kinda fell into our laps. Lindsey Yeo, Ian Swanson and myself we’re given the space free of rent for two days to occupy it for an upcoming open studio night in march of 2009. the space is inside of the Russell Industrial Center an old factory complex converted to artist spaces. We basically opened a show for the two day event and decided to keep running the space after the open studio nights were over. so we named it and started paying rent. Theres not many galleries here in Detroit so to keep it open for the artist here is our main motivation.
is there a certain program? how do you select the artists for the show? are you looking for certain criteria?
our single mission is to present one or two person shows of local and national artist. this is a reaction to the over crowded 7 to 20 person group shows that are always opening here in detroit. the space is small and is perfect for one or two artist to come in and realize a body of work and not get overlooked in a huge group show. so, because of that we try to choose artist that have the capability to do a strong installation with out other artist work competing for the viewers eye.
how is the gallery work organised?
the gallery has kinda morphed into a sort of project space for the artist. we provide a key to the artist to come in and work as they please. we rarely ever edit the work in a show which i believe stems from the selection of the artist. any artist should have the capacity to organize, edit and hang a show. we try to keep this in mind when considering someone for a show. initially we decided to not take any money for work sold but recently we’ve decided to try and take a more traditional 60 / 40 cut. this is partly because of after almost a year of openings our personal funds have dwindled due to the daily upkeep of running a space and partly because we do not have any other financial support from any organization.
what would be the best show you’ve seen/experienced so far?
at our space? well a few months back artist Kevin Beasley had a show and he brought in a truck load of small trees and tree branches to fill our front gallery. The effect was great as the viewer was forced to negotiate a way inside of the gallery through the dense trees with only a spot light mounted on the side wall giving light.
what would be a dream collaboration / show?
umm, wow, i dont know. i never thought about that. i guess it would have to be a colab with 18er Gold and ORG.
what are the future plans for the gallery?
keep doing what we do.
the interview was held via email in late 2009. thank you very much christopher.
GOLD is worth its weight in gold
icecreamforfree is a berlin based design studio “bubbling with ideas”.
you can lose yourself in their inspiring and highly fascinating work.
: for daydreamers …
: for people longing for all imaginable gemstones …
especially some of those titeled “miscellaneous 02” made me yearn for paper, scissors and glitter glue.
so: we would pay for this lovely bunch of ice-cream!
now then, keep cool and let’s scream out loudly very scooteresque:
respect to the man in the ice-cream van!
ok. somehow we missed this: it’s already the seventh week of the new year. but still, we keep up to no hustle and staying constantly in the mood of CHIN CHINs that’s where i’ll be for 2010. for you all a good year, full of grace and no darkness. love, 18ergold.
bob ross - the joy of painting (cabin by the pond - part1/3)
„We don’t make mistakes, we just have happy little accidents.“
oh boy, i could watch this forever. it is mesmerising and leaves you somehow satisfied in a bubble.
so. as he said „every creature in this world needs a friend“, go and see your loved ones.
Liz Deschenes - Tilft/Swing (360° field of vision, version 1) (2009)
digging deep into everthing about abstract / concrete photography at the moment for a paper. final concept came up from reading frieze article depth of field in search of an theoretical position on abstract photography.
one, two, three, go!
karen o & the kids - all is love (from spike jonze where the wild things are soundtrack)
certainly summer is over and the darker season (in terms of light) has arrived. we say: more cosy time with good music.so we start off with philip’s top 5. the master of the turntables at our last exhibition brings in his current favourite songs to share:
When Saints Go Machine - You Or The Gang
Panda Bear - Comfy In Nautica
Xiu Xiu - Fast Car
The Neptunes - House Of Heartaches
Telepathe - Devil´s Trident (Planning to Rock rmx)
when i read the neptunes, i asked if he meant the hiphopper and he responded: oh no! i love the opening when they scream: house of broken hearts! so do we.
very sweet of you philip. thanx!
love, 18ergold.
hello mr. twombly!
if you ever visit munich and have some time on your hands, you should see the new rising star in germanys museums heaven: museum brandhorst. it hosts the private collection of the couple brandhorst and it’s open since may 2009. i went there on a sunny sunday (every sunday you can see all collections in every museum in the city for just 1€ - best idea ever) and found myself very impressed. to begin with the building itself: sauerbruch+hutton architects designed it. the couple also did the much beloved colourful mini skyscraper, the gsw zentrale on kochstraße i always see riding my bike home via kreuzberg. this one here turned out to be very colourful as well. the front is assembled with 36,000 ceramic sticks in 23 different colours of three groups of shades and tonality. walking around it seems to change the colour with every angle. the inside is full of high-tech and innovative stuff as well, but before i lose myself in numbers again, i recommend the website for more information about architecture, museum technology and ecological concept. the inside of the museum is packed with all the stars of the second half of the twentieth century and contemporary artists like joseph beuys, mario merz, sigmar polke, georg baselitz, gerhard richter, bruce nauman, jean-michel basquiat, damien hirst and mike kelley. there are only(!) 160 works on display out of 700 works in total. which is insane i think and gives you an impression of the dimension of the whole thing.
but the best part is yet to come: cy twombly.
the third floor of the museum shows exclusively cy twombly, more than 60 works – paintings, sculptures and drawings. there is a huge curved room, build for the work-group of twelve single paintings named lepanto (2001). moreover there are, beside others, six flower paintings made by mr. twombly himself for the museum. as i walked through the rooms the incoming natural light (from the special made ceilings) changed with every cloud passing by, so does the artworks, which made it even more overwhelming. and it goes on like this. i can tell you, it’s impressive and really worth to see.
more candy at the end! that mr. twombley left every kind of artists with no more than tons of inspiration shows this project by the tate museum. it’s called tate tracks and is an experiment between art and music. the band union of knives was invited to walk around the gallery and find a work of art that would inspire them to write a track. they choose cy twombly’s quattro stagioni, i quote: which blew them away. how this turned out, go there to hear. enjoy.
1-3: munich, museum brandhorst, outside view on a very hot day
4: the lepanto room
5: view into the other rooms
6: left: james lee byars - i am imaginary (1978) / right: james lee byars - the lucky stone (circa 1977)
Signer’s Suitcase (Bridge)
since fri 4 september kiosk - modes of multiplication - an archive of contemporary art is on display at the kunstbibliothek in berlin. (ends on Sun 28 February 2010)
the exhibition presents a panorama of independent publications on art today. kiosk is a project, a continually expanding archive of independent publishing in the field of modern art since the early 90s.
the collection of the publisher and graphic designer, christoph keller, initiator of the kiosk project, currently holds over 6000 publications (including artists’ books, catalogues, periodicals, videos and audio recordings) from diverse project partners. the publications trace the economic strategies of publishers, editors and artists who define the objectives and direction of successful trends in graphic design and fashion today. the exhibition celebrates the acquisition of the collection in 2007 and the subsequent handing over of the project to the art library where it will be continued until 2010.
can’t say anything about it. i haven’t seen it yet. but BOOK WORKS recommended it on facebook, which is promising.
i wish my brain would work like this.
“der lauf der dinge” from 1987 is the work of swiss artist duo peter fischli and david weiss. it’s about 30 min long. this is the first part of three. it was shown at documenta 8, got several awards and is currently on display at the washington dc hirshhorn museum, the franklin institute in philadelphia and the louisiana museum of modern art in denmark.
in mid-july we went to see the open studios at universität der künste berlin. today i found the pictures on my camera. at first i got a little overboard at the department of architecture and made a lot of structure and model pictures, but later on we found some interesting work. we both agreed on david kröll being the highlight of the day. check out the last link for more and better pictures of his displayed work.
1-2: klasse badur
2: stefanie kabitzke-klasse badur
3: stephan köhler-klasse badur
5-6: nina peter
7-10: david leo kröll - since march 2009 student under prof. gregor schneider. last two picutres and more
