Alex Diamond, artista anónimo, peludo y alemán | article in El País | by XAVI SANCHO

published in El País, spain, on february 4, 2010. translation from spanish by iñigo martinez (iguapop). original text: click to view.

I love the article, this editor really knows his trade and speaks an excellent english, but I still allowed myself to comment on a few things below ...

“I’m not sure wether you’ll be able to talk to Alex Diamond”, I’m told on the other side of the telephone line. “Actually, we don’t even know if it’s a man or a woman”, continues the voice that seems to be the most authorized one to access this German (*1) artist. Alex Diamond is a character created in 2004, an anonymous being that lies behind hundreds of bodies wearing hairy masks. Diamond, from Hamburg, is regularly found in the European contemporary arts circuit. He even has a book published, Don’t worry ‘bout a thing, which includes a selection of photographs, drawings and paintings created by and focused on himself. “Alex asks if you can call in awhile. It’s difficult because he’s never available for interviews over the phone. He always uses email.” Diamond is the guy behind this carnival, which includes hiring models to feature him in presentations, a Facebook group of people wearing t-shirts with the logo “I am Alex Diamond” or even volonteers wearing uniforms and hairy masks putting together his sculptures in front of astonished curators and public attending European art fairs. “This whole thing begun like sort of a game in which the personality and the artist himself are being questioned, to show how unbalanced this game is nowadays. Now it’s all about fame and celebrity.”, he tells in a masculine voice with German accent. (*2) “As time went by, the story kept growing and even Diamond has started to show traces of his personality in his pieces. Demons are now recurrent images. Since the beginning, what has been structuring the speech has been having the body before the face”.  The Diamond phenomena has achieved, beyond defining a personal aesthetics, to create a mood among those who get close to the character.

Upon his creator, he will soon need to reinvent him because he’s beginning to be like a superhero. “Nobody asks who Diamond is anymore. They accept that the thing is like it is, and that this is how it must be. It’s different, but not that much, to the Banksy thing”. (*3) Barcelona’s IguapopGallery opens today the show Being Alex Diamond. “You want to know how I will show up in the opening tonight? I won’t be there. I never attend my shows. Even though, you can meet my gallerist. He’s a great guy”.

comments: 

*1 + *2: well. you try and speak with an altered voice such as kidnappers would do, and this is the result - a german accent!

*3: I said that it is totally different to banksy. or at least that's what i wanted to say, but I meant that it is similar in regards to the fact that people who know are not interested in talking about it (maybe for lots of money), to keep it interesting as an art project. or something like that. 

exposure and denial | by rik reinking

written for the book "Don't worry 'bout a thing - Being Alex Diamond", Verlag GUDBERG, Oct 2009

GOETHE :"BILDE KÜNSTLER! - REDE NICHT!" Without a doubt the cultivation of an “image” is more important than ever before. From a young age, children learn the importance of presentation; at work social status is to a great extent defined by the image you create. The image plays an increasingly important communicative role in social systems - politics, finance, arts, entertainment, celebrity culture. Today the image is essential, a ubiquitous presence that forms an individual’s answer to the question “What do you believe people think about you?” To decline, to refute, and at the same time use the above question, that is the art of Alex Diamond. For a long time the art world has produced romantic, stylized images that extol the genius of the artist. It was this common belief in the artist’s prodigious creative talent that rendered their self-image gratuitous. With the advent of modernism the art world experienced emancipation. Many artists withdrew from academic conventions, which seemed archaic in comparison to the technological achievements taking place around them. They created new techniques and styles, and as a consequence became increasingly autonomous, shifting the image of artist from genius to producer. Characters like Dali and Kippenberger emerged, and with them brought questions: How does an artist present himself to the public? Is he playing or is he authentic? What kind of image of himself does he create? Does he fulfil expectations – whose expectations? The “Ökonomie der Aufmerksamkeit” – the economics of entertainment, affects our thoughts and actions more than ever. New strategies for attention are sought, especially in today’s art world. Alex Diamond withdraws from any notions the viewer may have of the artists’ persona; hiding behind his work, he uses it as a shield against definitions and references to his personality. The artist’s identity is, in the end, nothing but a mask. So it becomes impossible to categorize Alex Diamond, and it is this resistance to succumb to a persona that draws the viewer in all the more. The artist’s identity emerges from speculation, bolstered by fact and fantasy.

Alex diamond celebrates self-image by refuting it. He refers constantly to the human body – his own body, implicitly addressing issues like gender, body modification and body culture. Martin Kippenberger stated that he couldn’t cut off an ear every day, but he could create figures and characters that enabled him to provoke time and time again.  To conclude, Alex Diamond’s work cannot stand for itself, it must be understood as a reference. The artist refuses to engage with an artificial image created by a theatrical art scene or play the role of the “enfant terrible” because he has chosen to emancipate himself from restrictive role models.

Rik Reinking is an international acclaimed collector, curator and art historian and the founder of Reinkingprojekte in Hamburg. 

Being alex diamond (about the mask) | by Maike Moncayo

written for the book "Don't worry 'bout a thing - Being Alex Diamond", Verlag GUDBERG, Oct 2009

Alex Diamond is both fiction and fact. His biography has been hidden from the beginning of the project. Yet, the compelling imagery, the recurrent symbolic references and themes in his work such as the bizarre hairy mask, reveal a strong authorial imprint. This feature allows genuine criticality and reveals multiple possibilities for the viewer. There is no obvious biographical inscription in the body of work per se; there is no vita; and there are no anecdotes around the figure of the author that would impose a specific, subject-based reading of the work. Alex Diamond hasn’t really given up on Alex Diamond as a generator of visual and creative exploration just yet. What he has given up on conceiving the project itself is the tendency to succumb to the co-optation of the artist as an entertainment puppet, the viewers’ and the lifestyle media’s interest in and their celebration of the artist’s persona, his eccentricities, his supposed authenticity and outsider position; the desperate need to dissect the artist’s fashions, likes and dislikes. Artists today cast themselves into a living brand. And it seems as though the artwork has been reduced to legitimizing the media frenzy around the artist’s persona, revealing the artist’s brand to be supported by the artist as a personality and his notoriety, rather than by the artwork itself. The mask belongs to the recurrent symbolic imagery in Alex Diamond’s work and has become the signifier for the artist’s persona and the protagonist in his last work series “Being Alex Diamond”.   A bizarre hybrid of gasmask and animal, you start to wonder what this mask with its blonde curls and tentacles is alluding to. Alex Diamond undermines the need to seek the artist behind the artwork, since the mask is both signifier and void. As much as it works as a strong and recognizable visual reference to the artists’ brand, and therefore, to the artist himself, the connection is corrupted and ridiculed by the fact that the bearer of the mask is always changing throughout this series of photographs. The artist reflects upon such a need but not without making an ironic statement about it: everyone can be Alex Diamond, or more accurately, Alex Diamond can be everyone. And as much as he seems to promote the idea of a democratization of art, meaning that everyone can be an artist, he stresses the fact that the artist figure has become but a mere hologram, whose life and personality have become the value object and the centre of attention, rather than the artwork itself. The exhaustive repetition of the same motif – the mask - reminds us of the mass production and ubiquity of cultural images, such as the images of pop culture icons produced by the media in the manner of Warhol. Only this time, it is the caricature of the artist, the masked freak, who is exposed to the public.

maike moncayo is a very good friend. she has been working for galleries such as iguapop (barcelona) or heliumcowboy artspace (hamburg), has a total understanding of the whole alex diamond thing, is a great writer, lives in barcelona and is unusually pretty. 

don't worry 'bout a thing ... | by harlan levey

written for the book "Don't worry 'bout a thing - Being Alex Diamond", Verlag GUDBERG, Oct 2009

not because every little thing is going to be ok, but perhaps because it has to be, eventually. There is no other option and ‘OK’ may just be an aesthetic position anyway. Don’t worry about it. Deal with it. This is a strategy, which can protect a person’s sense of romanticism and keep you from being stubbed into the corner of the cynic. Assume each situation for itself and allow a subject to simply be without the weight of any presumptions attached to predicate … this may be a step towards the end of unnecessary prejudice. Leaving as little to fate as possible won’t protect you, but if you’re a gambler it’ll sure improve the odds and leave you some energy to roll around in the sheets on a weekday. The title of this book could be read as a call to action. If you work hard, why worry? Happiness may be a myth, but satisfaction surely isn’t. The Alex Diamond project clearly calls attention to the dangers of cultural myths and the process of constructing aesthetic consensus and value, it also makes a tender attack on the vacancy of celebrity culture and the market’s role in determining so-called quality. To be honest, I’m not quite sure how I feel about this project or the work the artist brings forward. Yet this personal confusion is a strong part of what makes the Diamond story so appealing. In the friction of contradiction we begin to rub out the good stuff. One of the most obvious questions the project poses is whether or not the artist remains relevant once the art is offered up to others. Artists, until recently, have not been seen as simply entertainers. If we go to a concert, we want to be brought into the act and the singer is the song and dance man that can do this. But if we’re just driving along with the radio playing, it is the song that matters and not the singer as we process melody and lyrics, allowing ourselves to be moved. There is however a second layer there where we want to be able to trust in the person in order to properly slip into the beat and not just blindly shake our hips. Don’t worry, shake your hips, succumb to the rhythm … yes, but … Blind faith remains a great danger and the authenticity of our storytellers and their tales is a relevant question. This poses another contradiction, because in the very same breath I would say that the question of the real is no longer relevant. “Real” is less useful today than reaction. The Diamond project begins to approach this through art and occasionally through entertainment. Masks and illusions, folklore mixed with contemporary distraction, until now this project has been a wide-open non-violent assault on many areas of the so-called art world. At a point in time where we posses the ability to recreate life and all images of it, contemporary art may be best concerned with the art of living and this means questioning, experimenting and basing your testimony on experience as opposed to, or at least as much as, mediated information. Does a person know what they are talking about? Have they experienced the thought they share? Does it matter? Can you bounce to punk songs sung from a prepubescent suburban kid? YES YES YES and NO NO NO … and either and anyway, well, people do. It matters and it doesn’t. next to boris hoppek's black sheep installation: "the myth of the white buffalo" at no new enemies-exhibition at musée du botanique, brussels 2008, curated by harlan levey When I was first introduced to the work of Alex Diamond, it was through a third party whom I trust on several levels and often share a certain sense of taste with. He was very excited and I felt like I needed more information. Trying to come to terms with the work I was being shown, I sought a broader context and began to ask questions about the guy’s character. As I inquired about Diamond, every answer I got was vague and spoke of ambiguity. The ‘guy’ doesn’t show his face and rejects traditional identity predicates like nationality, age, or education. ‘He’ does not apply with an interview and a written CV. Amongst the artists I work with there are many who use artist names, and these ‘aka’ pseudonyms serve necessity by protecting them from prosecution for illegal interventions. Alex Diamond doesn’t seem to break any written laws however, and this choice to keep the wizard behind the curtain felt at first to be cowardly and small, a way of avoiding the vulnerability an artist is faced with when sharing their creations. Step up to the plate young man, I thought, stand up for what you’ve done. This is the only responsibility we have in the world, and shirking this often makes exception the rule as history can be assumed like an evening gown and the high heels that make a woman’s calves just that much more prominent.  A check cannot be cashed if its left unsigned. Sometimes a signature however, does not need to be our name, and instead of cowardly this choice may also be seen as selfless. Most artists will admit that there is a need to be loved for the work one produces, which is just as poignant as the desire for that work to draw powerful emotional reactions as if it belonged only to the earth.

my god steals from your garden (of...), acrylic and ink on wood (2009) Diamond does not stop and wait for your affections, nor does Diamond ask for your assurances. Diamond just gets on with it and remains undeterred as he does. The project has value that exceeds the limits of any one person.  Genderless, Nation-less, Ageless. With no references, the seductive lines and not quite subversive storyboards first appeared as soulless representations from an empty source. However, in this refusal to provide predicates, the focus of the viewer must remain on the subject at hand or enter the void of speculation. This is a strong ethical position for a creative work, yet at the same time we must wonder if we can trust the ethics of the unclaimed. Context and environment cannot be removed from any reading, but in the context of the Diamond project, the room is empty and the audience is forced to fill it with fragments of their own minds. Reality becomes the illusion and at that point, once the hook is in your mouth it does not matter who Diamond is, because the notion of project takes priority to the singular subject. In the case of Alex Diamond, Nobody is important and Everybody is everything Over time, as I saw more work from Alex Diamond, it was easy to acknowledge quick technical development and a prolific rate of experimentation. More obvious was the vast mixture of mediums he employed; illustration, spray, photography, collage, 3 dimensional installations, concepts, sketches, tattoos and in the couple of years that had flown by since I’d first seen his work, the entire body had changed in many ways. At the same time, a very recognizable style and subject matter were increasingly evident. The more work Diamond produced, the deeper the water seemed to be and suddenly I was balls deep and getting used to the temperature. In this living, another appeal is that I have yet to view a single piece, which could be considered lazy or seen as resting on its laurels. This sweat, for me personally, has much to do with the value of an artwork or any relevant emotional communication. In this hard work it is possible to locate some motivation, which may lessen the sense of ambiguity I describe. It matters not who Diamond is, but what Diamond does. It is not true that anybody can be Alex Diamond, but is interesting that Alex Diamond might be anybody. The age of individualism is nearly over, even if the age of celebrity is more awful than ever. We can applaud public personalities for their efforts to bring attention to issues that concern them, but this does not mean we need to care what they say about topics outside the area of their expertise. I can respect Brad Pitt talking about socialized health care, but at the same time I hope that his opinions are taken for nothing more than bar room banter. The bridge here is that just because as artist has a certain status, does not make the work they present indisputably important even when the market seems to say otherwise. The Diamond project recognizes the irrelevance of any individual. Nature only cares about the entire species. You can be hit by a car or lighting, contract a disease or suffer your end at the hands of sick bastard … you’re gone and life goes on. If the species will survive, unique beings that belong to it will need to take a back seat and leave psychological baggage in yesterday’s sunset. Immortality is not a brand exercise. It is about sharing, loving and bravery, about flexibility and the day-to-day struggle of existence. For me the greatest value of Diamond are these sort of social suggestions. Yet as we watch the work rising amongst the ranks of contemporary artists, another point cannot be ignored: in the Diamond critique of the market, does the Diamond experiment become just another market-based exercise? A money making scheme? Some could say this, but does it matter? Whatever. Don’t worry. Just read, work hard, ask questions and get lost in the tight lines to see what you find in the freedom. Unravel the Diamond project for yourself as if you were processing the news, a fable, or a note from your lover. Paint if you have love to share! This is what matters as we struggle to evolve. One day Alex Diamond will be revealed, and this stone won’t bear the weight of drawing innocent blood in order to shine.

Harlan Levey is the chief editor of MODART magazine, founder of NoNewEnemies, an "international network of artists, activists, academics and passionate people aiming to support free expression, outsider arts and collaboration." See more of his work on those sites.

about tentacles | by alex diamond

Looking back at my work, tentacles have developed into a very important element within it. Like the flowing shapes, which I started with very early on and which still appear from time to time, they have a life of their own, crawling and spreading in an almost organic manner over the surface I am working on (regardless of the kind of surface). Since 2005, when they first appeared in small parts of the series “Gold, Kinder!”, they have not only become longer and more mobile, but also multiplied enormously. Since 2006, they appear in most of my artworks. So what’s it all about then ... I wish I knew exactly. I would love to say that they just developed a life on their own, but in fact they are far too important for this. Sprawling into the empty room, sometimes trying to get hold of something, sometimes wrapping around other creatures, bodies or elements in the work, they are like the tentacles of jellyfish. Dangerous and beautiful at the same time, a vital means of protection and appropriation of space. They search and discover. They search and feed. They search and create. They search and destroy - which brings me back to Punk as an important heritage of our generation and the main power source behind Alex Diamond’s energy (“Search & Destroy”, Iggy Pop and the Stooges, 1973).  An anecdote dating back to 2006 could help explain why since then the power of tentacles has even increased tenfold in my work. On the beaches of Florida I had an encounter with a Portuguese Man o’ War, a really nasty jellyfish-like creature (they are, in fact, not really jellyfish). It was a painful experience: an extremely long, burning tentacle was wrapped around my leg and because I couldn’t get it off in the water I had to drag that animal through the surf out onto the beach while it was still attached to me. Due to my tentacle obsession, I immediately started to research this creature:  Its name derives from a type of Portuguese War Ship from the 15th and 16th century. It floats on the surface of the ocean. Its tentacles reach deep down into the water, some growing to 50 meters long. The most startling fact: the Portuguese Man O' War is not a single animal. It is a colony of four individuals, each of them highly specialized. They are physically attached to each other and integrated, but technically each of them is an individual animal. Because they take over different functions, they depend on each other to survive. So … if that marine invertebrate consists of four individuals, then how many different creatures fit into the experimental personality that is Alex Diamond? I can’t say I am grateful to that beast that stung me, but it certainly seemed to be a very important encounter in my career.

detail from "the hero of tomorrow rises in the golden child and cries: for the love of god!" (2009) click image to enlarge (pop up) Another tentacle-story happened in New York 2008. By then it was almost unthinkable to finish any drawing without tentacles. The way they are drawn has hardly changed since the beginning and they have become an authentic Alex Diamond signature, without ever taking the lead role in the stories told in the artworks. I was in a shop with some friends; they were looking for clothes and I was bored. Sitting down on a sofa, I found a large book lying forlorn in a remote corner of the shelf above me.  It was Ernst Haeckel’s (1834 – 1919) masterpiece “Art Forms In Nature”. A stunning showpiece of over 100 of Haeckel’s detailed, multi-coloured nature drawings published in 1904. I never had come across his work before, but it struck me as incredibly beautiful and painfully detailed. Turning page after page in awe, I came across an illustration of the Discomedusae (a jellyfish). And believe it or not - those tentacles looked pretty much exactly like mine. Not only in shape, but also in the way they “moved” across the page.  At that moment, Haeckel became a part of Alex Diamond. Or Diamond a part of him. And this book had to become mine, it seemed to be so influential, even if the influence came only afterwards. Haeckel and I, we shared the same interest and style and had developed something similar over 100 years apart. As a tribute to Haeckel, other forms of nature have crawled out of this book and inspired drawings in a few works in the project “Being Alex Diamond”.  Only the future can tell how long the tentacles will remain to fascinate me as an artist. All I can say is that they came by accident, developed their own life over a course of time, are filled with history and stories and have become a crucial element of my art.

faq | by isabel abele

written for the book "Don't worry 'bout a thing - Being Alex Diamond", Verlag GUDBERG, Oct 2009

Alex Diamond has been around for a while, but  the artist’s identity is never revealed at exhibitions. What's the idea behind Alex Diamond and how did the project develop?  Alex Diamond is more or less anonymous. Personal and biographical details are hidden, but there is a body of work that includes drawings, photography, paintings, collage, installative work or even tattoos. So on the one hand, there's this virtual body of work which is manifold (do you mean manifest?). As a reference on a given situation it seeks to capture the moment and try to never appear the same. Same with the artist behind this body of work. If you see Alex Diamond rather as an experiment, this experiment constantly develops a new specific identity for the artist himself. In this sense, one aspect of Alex Diamond to slip into a role defined by external circumstances. In short: the artist lives through the art he creates - and the other way round.  But there is another side to Alex Diamond, which makes things more complex. The idea of neglecting the identity of the artist also connects to the idea of the artist's studio or an artist's factory (or maybe even an agency) in which art is produced not necessarily by one single person anymore, but  by a network of people working on the same issues. Of course, there is a recognition value in all the artworks produced by Alex Diamond -  the paintings, drawings or installations do show a certain style that are recoginsable as Alex Diamond. The fact that the individuality of the artist is kept secret gives freedom to the creative process. However, looking back to what happened before, the Alex Diamond experiment is becoming increasingly anonymous. Having started as a kind of one-man show, it increasingly depends on other people, as you can see in the project "Being Alex Diamond". For "Being Alex Diamond" people are portrayed with a surreal mask covering their faces. They pose in front of a camera, pretending to be the real Alex Diamond. But the project also takes shape on another level. The photo series was first shown in a group exhibition in Barcelona, Spain. As with every exhibition staged by Alex Diamond, you need to find somebody to slip into the artist’s role. This time a friend and model who had already posed for the photo series "Being Alex Diamond" was asked to put on the mask and mix with the guests during the evening of the opening. It worked; all the opening guests believed she was Alex Diamond. It was in fact a performance and the success of it relied totally on the acting skills of the model. She did not get a script nor did she have to follow any guidelines; it all happened very naturally. Right from the moment she put on the mask, she slipped into the role of the artist and adapted it as if Alex Diamond was her alter ego. The next step would be having all types of people come in and want to wear the mask, pretending to be the real Alex Diamond. The artist’s identity would vanish, and at the same time the joint action itself turns into a performance. Is Alex Diamond a reflection upon what's happening in the art world right now? The Alex Diamond experiment is very conceptual, and it is this concept that defies the regulations of today’s art market. Without a doubt this market is strongly based on the supply and demand of admired and renowned artist personalities.

Alex Diamond at Iguapop gallery, barcelona, jan 2009Take big celebrities. Take artists like Damien Hirst or Takeshi Murakami, whose artworks and intentions gain attention only at a second stage most of the time. One has to admit that the "persona" of the artist is hyped and conventionalized to the general public as never before. Artists are increasingly becoming pop stars. But in the end, it will be the artworks and their contents that remain. With this in mind, Alex Diamond wants to be daring and take a step back. By keeping him hidden,  the project forces the sensation-seeking viewer to pause and to reflect on the virtual artwork itself. The concept wants to play with the audience - that is an audience believing in the artist as a genius creating a piece of work solely by himself.

Isabel Abele is an art historian from hamburg. she is the assistant director at heliumcobwoy artspace. 

you don't know what love is | by alex diamond

The interactive installation “You Don’t Know What Love Is” has seen a total of three installments, starting in November 2007 for the solo-show "love me with a gun to my head" (heliumcowboy artspace) with the set up of a church-like, dark prayer-room integrating the bar of the gallery in Hamburg and creating a room within the room. Oddly shaped cut wood, painted black, was used for the exterior walls; inside, a reversed cross cut out to reveal the sole light source shining through the small opening. The light illuminated the centre of the work, a mobile with over 30 little characters hanging from invisible threads.  These characters, drawn in ink on transparent paper, were the only thing that survived all three set ups: for the presentation of the work at the scope art fair New York 2008, the prayer room became a claustrophobic 140 x 120 x 190 cm small box (internal dimensions). The mobile was again hidden behind a wooden wall, this time viewable from the inside through two crosses, one of which was upside down. The box was covered inside with soft red velvet, the floor filled up with bark mulch, 30 cm high. Stepping into the dark box through a golden curtain, visitors first saw the illuminated crosses and smelled the mulch, before looking through the openings and seeing the characters. Standing inside, feet deep in the bark mulch and surrounded by the plush velvet, visitors would see the characters start to softly move - due to the breeze made by their  breath whilst looking through the crosses.  This boxed version of the installation was then shown again in Hamburg in Summer 2008 for the 5-year anniversary exhibition of the heliumcowboy artspace. The bark mulch extended from the box, covering a large space on the floor, arranged in the typical Alex Diamond shapes.

installation view, scope new york, march 2008. Afterwards it was destroyed, with the exception of the little drawings, which are the only remaining essence of the installation. “You Don’t Know What Love Is” is a quote from a White Stripes Song. Like every good song, it deals with our struggle to be truly loved. Here, it is used as a provocative statement, and you can either go inside the installation to confess (which makes the box a confessional) or bare your heart to the demons of love. Artwork info: Installation (Box) approx. 150 x 290 x 150 cm (outside) and 140 x 120 x 190 cm (inside). Plywood, paint, marker, drawings on transparent paper (mobile), spotlights, fabric, bark mulch (2007 – 2008)

the myth of the white buffalo | by alex diamond

the large (180x180x3 cm) work "monopoly remix: the myth of the white buffalo" is based upon the most important legends of the Sioux. exhibited first at the no new enemies exhibition at le botanique museum in brussels 2008, it did a tour with stops in new york and hamburg. this is the story behind it (there's also a nice video of setting it up at a collector's house in hamburg).

The White Buffalo is based upon one of the most important legends of the Sioux. The medicine man Crow Dog explains, "This holy woman brought the sacred buffalo calf pipe to the Sioux. There could be no Indians without it. Before she came, people didn’t know how to live. They knew nothing. The Buffalo Woman put her sacred mind into their theirs.” Albino buffalo were sacred to all Plains tribes; a white buffalo hide was a sacred talisman, a possession beyond price. A white buffalo is the most sacred living thing you could ever encounter. In short: The White Buffalo Woman appeared to the tribes when food was scarce. Two young tribesmen went out to hunt for game, but instead found a beautiful woman wandering in the plains. While one of them couldn’t resist the temptation to touch her and was immediately killed by lightning, the other was respectful and took the news about the coming of a holy woman back to the tribes. Later, the woman arrived at the big gathering of the tribes and in a long ceremony introduced the sacred pipe to the chief of the Indians. After the ceremony the woman left and, walking towards the horizon, she transformed into a white buffalo calf.  After she was gone, herds of buffalo arrived on the plains, allowing the Sioux to kill them for their meat, hides and bones. Since then, the holy pipe stands for fertility, future, survival. It binds men and women together in a circle of love and also stands for the equality of the genders. In the painting, the White Buffalo’s hide is created from art magazine pages featuring numerous artist portraits. The pages are whitened and then drawn over with many characters (or souls), fighting today’s battle with an art world that is trying to create icons and pop stars as saviours for an unpredictable future. Would you be immediately tempted by beauty (remember, lightning may strike you), or could you wait until it really is time to feast?

the myth of the white buffalo; installation image from no new enemies group show at le botanique, 2008 Artwork info: 180 x 190 cm, acrylic, ink, magazine pages/collage on 16 wood panels; Installation: bark mulch, wall paint (2008). click here for more images.