The Art Freaks came out of a desperate moment of realization that most of the great ideas in art are existing and done. 2011 was already common to recycle old ideas to new ones. And this was not only a norm in contemporary art; you could see it also in architecture, fashion, music, and many other creative fields. The view to the past became more and more a nostalgic one, one where big ideas wrote art history. Most of the artists from the last century could commit to one personality and one way to be recognized as significant. Of course, many reasons are responsible for today’s difference. Maybe more creativity in general, more artists, more curators, more galleries, just more of all. We do not focus very long on one subject; we like to jump from one excitement to the next. A long-lasting artist career is not anymore a steady, slow-moving development of the personal point of view; it is more a flexible adjusting to the fast-changing eruption of daily events. Maybe one could say the world was always a crazy place, but obviously, we are busier than ever regarding information and visuals. The Art Freaks symbolizes for me a generation of artists with distinctive languages and a strong personal character. It is a romantic view of an artist’s personality, and I question if these characters will be around in the future. Of course, that does not mean there will not be any great artists ahead. That would be too pessimistic.

The first time I showed the Art Freaks was in 2010 at Metro Pictures. in the same year, we showed them printed as flags at the Palais do Tokyo in Paris. 2015 they have been a part of my retrospective at the NWR Forum in Duesseldorf.

There is also a charming book out by Acme, 2012.

All Art Freaks are framed C-Prints, Edition of 3 + 2 AP, 90 x 190 cm (35 x 75 in.)