Saturday, February 9, 2013

Interview with Carsten Kruse






q)For the people who don't know your work - how would you describe it ?
  

a)I mainly paint all kind of objects in public places all over Germany very colourful, for example houses, trams or cars. Sometimes I have a permission to do this by the city, sometimes not. But I´m not what you would call a Graffiti-artist. All my work is handmade with brushes and roles. Nothing is improvised. The base of the perfect result is a draft, which I apply free-hand 1:1 on the wall. I never use templates. Sometimes, I make lots of big blobs on wood in my studio and copy them on the wall. Sometimes I´m childish and develop crazy fishes or frogs with very special characters. Fishes from mars? Sometimes my mood is more funny, sometimes my attitude is more provocative.
The trash of my public work, like brushes or empty cans is the basic material for my work on canvas, thus the artistic cycle is perfectly closed.
For more than twenty years, I´ve been drip-painting my so called monsters in all sizes on wood. They´re very mysterious to me and develop with me.
  

q)What are the key themes running through your practice?
  

a)The key theme of my work is colour. I try to transform sterile and conservative public places into something funny, happy and positive. I fight for the freedom of facades. I´m against white and grey walls and I´m looking for the facade-design of tomorrow.


q)Your favorite place on earth?
   

a)My bed


q)What influences your work?
   

a)When I started painting  my monsters twenty years ago, I was mainly influenced by Jackson Pollock. Nowadays I´m open for all kind of mural art and street art, but not influenced directly. My work is very influenced by music, I think. I listen to crazy stuff all the time.


q)What music are you into right now?
   

a)I´m totally into Free Jazz and Noise….especially musicians like Peter Brötzmann,
    Jooklo duo, John Wiese as well as Merzbow. Currently my favorite instrument is the sax. I love chaos in music. I`m not a big fan of structures and melodies.


q)Describe your thought & design process...
  

a)When I see a certain object, I can see immediately the painted result in front of me.


q)Which emerging artists are you looking forward to seeing more of?
   

a)The stuff of Toys Art Gallery in Los Angeles is great


q)Favorite place on the internet?
 

a) Discogs.com …you can find rare and hard to find records there


q)Do you have any upcoming projects/exhibitions we should know about?
  

a)Of course I have, but they`re secret until it`s published.


q)Tell us something we don't know - but should...


a)I am ectotherm like a lizard, I only start moving when the sun is shining on me J


q) Where can people see more of your work on the internet?
  



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