How do you describe your own practice?
In my work all notions of realism are voided, and are replaced with abnormal colours, subjects and textures. I work in an instinctive way, constituting a continuous stream of pictures. Projects are formed by the flow of different feelings and emotions. For me the images appear, waiting to be seized. In some instances it is simple, and others are harder to grasp.
What was your first experience in art?
When I was a child, my parents brought me to an exhibition of Jean Tinguely. His art is simple and complex at once. The absurdity of his machines, their storytelling, and his strange mix of matters were striking to me as child and continue to inspire me. It’s a good example that proves that a piece of art can be understood by everyone and anyone.
What is your greatest source of inspiration?
I don’t think we have to go far to be inspired, my main inspirations come from simple experiences. The main inspirations come from the feelings and emotions experienced and their confrontation to my culture.
What do you need in order to create?
Any kind of camera, actually medium that allows me to record my surroundings. And the most important, to feel the need to do it.
What are you working on at the moment?
I’m preparing an exhibition at the Gallery Kernweine in Stuttgart. Some of the pictures presented here will be shown, and I’m working also on a book about it. You can pre-order it on this website.
Otherwise I’m currently working on a project that revolves around my family’s home; the work draws its power from the photographs and objects made and collected in the home. My family has lived in the house for generations. The aim is to define the familial unconscious mind that is formed by time and events that occur in every family. These entities are sometimes not talked about because they are either hushed or buried, hidden from sight in the unconscious mind. I believe that our souls, as well as our bodies, are composed of individual elements which were all already present in the ranks of our ancestors. The “newness” in the individual psyche is an endlessly varied recombination of age-old components.
What work or artist has most recently surprised you?
The drawings of Jerôme Zonder moves me a lot, for his confusion of matter, techniques and subjects. It’s a complex combination between innocent childhood and the harsh world that surrounds us. His work emanates a strange emotional balance. Also, I like the fact that he never uses any eraser, and depicts precisely his deep thoughts and feelings. It’s rare to see such a honest artist, who is not afraid to share his guts.
