DIE RÜCKEROBERUNG DES POP
Talking about Pop Surrealism is not an easy task, since dealing with this topic intellectually may result in being sidetracked from its main essence. More specifically, it deviates from the emotions, which are aroused in whoever is confronted by it.
This figurative genre "delighted the eye and shocked the sensibilities...", says Kirsten Anderson, a key exponent of Pop Surrealism, who runs the gallery Roq La Rue in Seattle. She continues her statement with the following: "Pop Surrealism was a welcome change from the increasing boorishness of the recycled ideas and stale conceptualism found in most contemporary art..." by Julie Kogler
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HOTROD AND SPARTAKUS
I`ve just returned from San Clemente, a small town on the ancient Californian, El Camino Real (mission trail), about two hours south of Los Angeles. This place is at the epicentre of hotrod and surfing revival culture in the US that is both an industry and a way of life. My cultural guide when I'm there is the artist and freestyle hotrod builder: Brian Bent.
During our first day`s meeting, on a warm and sunny day in mid-Febuary, 2010, we took a hair-raising ride in Brain's self-built 1920s Model A Ford based hotrod (clearly a modern-day chariot), went surfing on a 1940s "kook-box" wooden surfboard and took a drive up to the Orange antiques market in a 1955 Ford sedan. Please picture us: two middle-aged men, dressed in a mixture of original clothing from the 1950s and garments we have made ourselves (yes, we both make our own clothing) in the style of hotrod racers from bygone eras. What are we doing? Who do we think we are? by Nicholas Clements
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WHAT ARE WE MISSING?
This question arose at one of the world`s largest fairs of consumer products, of all places: Maison et Objet in Paris, with 3000 international exhibitors on more than 130,000 square meters, approximately 7 million objects displayed in 7 halls in January 2010. How could one here, of all places, confronted with a superlative of commodification, conceive of the notion to be missing anything?
Philippe Starck, pronounced "Designer of 2010" by Maison et Objet`s organizers, asked this question. The tenth anniversary of an area called Now! Desgin a vivre in hall 7 led him to do so. This area has turned into an arena for the avant-garde of object and furniture design, represented by familiar companies as well as upcoming designers, biannually since 2000... by Schnuppe von Gwinner
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