Images of Thought. In the Vacuum of Memory – A Studio Visit with Alex Müller

Some art can be easily placed: a style, a medium, a signature—and it quickly fits into familiar categories. The works of Alex Müller do not. Each body of work stands on its own. And yet the question arises: is there a unifying bracket? A visit to her studio provides initial clues. The space is used down to the last corner. Inserted walls, elevated structures, niches—a configuration of workshops, storage areas, and workspaces. Where painting usually takes place, Alex Müller has set up a small presentation. Drawings, painting, objects: materials, forms, and rhythms of color stand side by side without committing themselves. Is this the result of radical openness? Or does this diversity follow a clear line of inquiry? With these questions, I begin our conversation ... (to read more, tap on cover photo)
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Romanticism 2.0 – A Journey into the Fairy-Tale Paradise Worlds of Katrin Kampmann

Her art is multifaceted. And this is meant literally when it comes to Katrin Kampmann. Whether in her vibrant, expressive paintings, her installations, the mysteriously alluring paper works, or her current stop-motion film, which introduces language as a new layer through her dialogue with Benno Fürmann – it is always a multitude of overlapping narratives that invite a gradual immersion. What exactly is being told? And how much of Katrin Kampmann is in her work? With these questions in mind, I set off for Prenzlauer Berg ... (to read more tap on image)
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Somehow something always “oscillates”¹. A “ready-gemaked”² art dialogue with the artist collective Pegasus Product.

Have you ever heard of the Birdcage Theory? That theory that derives a connection between the birdcage and the coordinate system of the globe? The author is – according to the current state of research – unknown, but the Birdcage Theory (abbreviated as BT) oscillates somewhere between art and science. In insider circles, BT is already being discussed as THE hot topic for upcoming art events in Vienna, Cologne (Art Cologne), Copenhagen and Berlin. Connecting art and science is not new, but the manner of this staging will undoubtedly provoke new levels of intrigue, be entertaining, generate a unique artistic experience, and retrospectively inspire contemplation... in other words, it will be something new. This is ensured by Gernot Seeliger, Anton Peitersen, and Dargelos Kersten of Pegasus Product ... (to read more tap on image)
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“But, initially, it does not claim to be anything, just itself.” Gregor Russ through a photostory portrait …

Dusseldorf. You want the most essential aspects of an artistic work visualized through a photostory? Say no more – on the occasion of Gregor Russ’ exhibition AS IF … Guaranteed reading time of less than two minutes ?

Ardan Özmenoglu – All wonderful

It is indeed absolutely wonderful to stand in front of Ardan Özmenoglu's front door in Istanbul. Surreal is perhaps even better. Just three weeks ago, she spontaneously invited me to her studio at her exhibition opening with the above title at Galerie Anna Laudel in Düsseldorf. And now I'm here. Am I even right? In a mix of English and sign language, I had communicated with the taxi driver and now hope that he hasn’t left me somewhere in the middle of nowhere. The bell sign "hello I'm art" is already reassuring. Address seems to be correct. But unfortunately, no one opens. The tension rises again ...
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Alfonso Hüppi – The confrontation with the inside, the outside, and the trappings

Where do you start and stop? When do you have the chance to talk to an artist whose work is as complex, extensive and significant as his? Alfonso Hüppi is one of the most important representatives of post-war avant-garde and post-modernism, and is as gifted a painter as he is a sculptor, draftsman and graphic artist. My initial idea of trying to narrow down my questions fails with his answer to whether there is a group of works, or creative period, that is particularly close to his heart. "No. Somehow everything has a story and is therefore significant to me", making it immediately clear that one can only approach this Œuvres by talking precisely about these stories.

Bernhard Martin – Between Disney and Tarantino

All the clichés of a bohemian fit the artist. Since he was fifteen, Bernhard Martin has given free rein to his sheer unbridled thirst for adventure. Unconventionally and excessively, he follows his ideas about art. Gambling, drug use, counterfeiting, or life on the streets, simply belonged to his way of life; because "pushing the limits of society" means art to him. Therfore, you can find very unique visual worlds in his compositions, which are represented in the most prominent art collections in the world, such as MoMa in New York or the Arario Museum in Seoul, and his work is regularly presented in equally prominent exhibition spaces ...

Manuela Knaut – The beauty of the overlooked

Brunswick. Yes! That's exactly how I had imagined it. I think, as I enter Manuela Karin Knaut's studio. A mix of paint buckets, paint tubes, spray bottles, oil chalk, wooden slats, canvases, photographs, paper rolls, foils, indefinable odds and ends, and of course splashes of color everywhere you look, reflect the explosive nature of her work in absolutely every corner of the room. Here in this studio there are mixed, stirred and layered materials that have been experimented with. Knaut is one of the most successful artists in the increasingly assertive online art market. Her works, which are now sold in almost every continent, reveal elements of both street art and "objet trouvé" (found objects turned into art) ...