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.