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TARGET.PRACTICE | New woodcuts for MILLERNTOR GALLERY

I have created two new woodcuts, to be shown at MILLERNTOR GALLERY #04, opening Thursday, May 29. MILLERNTOR GALLERY is a social art gallery, organized by Viva con Agua de Sankt Pauli and the football club FC St. Pauli and is held annually at the Millerntor Stadium in Hamburg.

In 2012, I took part in this great project for the first time as an artist, installing the large wooden installation "WIPE OUT". For last years' MILLERNTOR GALLERY #03, instead of showing my own work I was running the arts programme as artistic director with my gallery heliumcowboy. In 2014, I passed the torch on, and instead of managing all artist and exhibition related activities and processes, returned with my artwork. These two, called TARGET.PRACTICE #1 & #2, to be precise. They were created in the weeks before the opening and were made specifically for the show, partly because they are interactive pieces ... (see below).

Please visit the website of the MILLERNTOR GALLERY and see the full program from May 29 - 31.

TARGET.PRACTICE #01 | woodcut, acrylic paint, mirror;  78 x 62 x 3 cm (2014) — TARGET.PRACTICE #01 | woodcut, acrylic paint, mirror; 78 x 62 x 3 cm (2014)

TARGET.PRACTICE #02 | woodcut, acrylic paint, mirror;  74 x 62 x 3 cm (2014) — TARGET.PRACTICE #02 | woodcut, acrylic paint, mirror; 74 x 62 x 3 cm (2014)

Here are some more images from those works. You may get the idea of why I was using a mirror in these instead of an intricate inner woodcut in the second layer ... (hint: #selfie)

Too old to die young | woodcut, Febuary 2014

'Too old to die young' | woodcut, acrylic paint, 105 x 85 x 10 cm (41,5 x 33,5 x 4 inches), 2014.Check availability here (via heliumcowboy) — 'Too old to die young' | woodcut, acrylic paint, 105 x 85 x 10 cm (41,5 x 33,5 x 4 inches), 2014.
Check availability here (via heliumcowboy)

In my recent quest to adding even more visible depth and traditional craftsmanship into my woodcuts, I've been vanishing these past weeks in my workshop cutting and carving and painting this rather complex piece of work (and while it may be based upon a photo of mine it is NOT intended to be a self-portrait ...)

'Framework' for 'Too old to die young' ...

It is my most recent take on contemporary culture and its recurring recognition patterns, which also includes the usage of claims (such as 'Too old to die young'). In these works, I am referencing the constant recycling, reliving and reinventing of major elements of past (youth) cultural & political movements into our current, very modern, brand driven times.

This is the second artwork I've created in this manner since late last year ('You were born inside my heart' being the first, check this link), and this will mark the direction I am currently taking working forward to my joint exhibition with my dear friend Victor Castillo in September 2014 in Hamburg. More information on this very special show will be released shortly.

If you are interested in the availability of this artwork, please visit heliumcowboy.

detail | © Alex Diamond 2014

'Too old to die young' & 'You were born inside my heart' (more information)check availability of these artworks here — 'Too old to die young' & 'You were born inside my heart' (more information)
check availability of these artworks here

Trans.Form. | woodcut, January 2014

First woodcut of the year 2014 is a return to the HULK-theme I have been referring to in two of my artworks from late 2013, exhibited at Feinkunst Krüger in Hamburg Nov-Dec. For more information on the other 2 works please check these links:

Hulk 1 | Hulk 2

Availabilty of woodcuts: visit heliumcowboy

Taking shots.

Having worked as professional photographer early in my career, today I am getting behind the camera only infrequently in my art work, for example as part of mixed media pieces. Like the 'Photodrawings' - where I ink (and sometimes paint) directly onto my own photography which I stage only for the purpose of drawing over it afterwards.

The final artwork: woodcut 'You were born inside my heart' (more info)

And from time to time when I start out on a new work and I just need to get closer to an idea, pose or gesture that is in my head, I enter the creative process with a photo shooting to compose reference images for carving or painting.

For 'You were born inside my heart', I've worked with one of my favorite regular models, Natascha Seebacher, a young fashion designer and dressmaker from Hamburg (Taesh), to get my idea into shape. A shape I then used as a reference for the female figure in this woodcut. altering features along the way that I think match my composition and 'story' for the artwork.

Besides the original reference image Natascha and I created, below are some outtakes from the camera time.

You can follow Natascha's ventures into the fashion designer world here.

© all images Alex Diamond 2013

Click here for more images from the final, three layered woodcut 'You were born inside my heart'

You were born inside my heart | woodcut, Dec 2013

You were born inside my heart(3-dimensional) woodcut, acrylic paint, 90 x 80 x 10 cm (2013) — You were born inside my heart
(3-dimensional) woodcut, acrylic paint, 90 x 80 x 10 cm (2013)

This is a pretty new direction within my woodcuts: it‘s going three dimensional ... adding depth through installing several layers of cut out and carved wood on top of each others.

,You were born inside my heart‘, a 90 x 80 x 10 cm large, three-layer-woodcut was created just in time for Jim Avignon‘s group exhibition „Happy hour at the Hypnotist“ opening December 7, 2013, at the legendary NEUROTITAN in Berlin-Mitte.

If you can't make it to Berlin, it may be available here.

Detail from  You were born inside my heart (3-dimensional) woodcut, acrylic paint, 90 x 80 x 10 cm (2013)

'Message in a Bottle' at SCOPE Miami

3 Bottles, 3 messages: front view.
© Alex Diamond

3 Bottles, 3 messages: back view.
© Alex Diamond

I have been invited by Lori Zimmer, founder of the ART NERD universe and New York based author and curator, to participate in a very special project for the SCOPE Miami art fair taking place this December.

For 'Message in a Bottle', a group exhibition featuring an amazing line-up of artists including Ron English, Beau Stanton, Tara McPherson, Shark Toof, Molly Crabapple, Kenny Sharf and David Shillinglaw (to name a few), Lori will convert the booth of Quattlebaum Foretich Gallery (Hamptons) with a maritime theme (quote):

"'Message in a Bottle' explores the romantic history of blindly throwing messages to sea, leaving it to the hands of fate to deliver them to their intended recipient. Visitors are invited into a maritime ship chandlery, where contemporary artists have created their own message for the ages, captured inside bottles and waiting to be unlocked by their new owners. A special animation by Beau Stanton will further the seafaring fantasy."

So, here's a little image documentation of how I tackled the theme and the interesting technical challenge I faced getting woodcuts inside the bottles ...

The messages in the bottles are of course the little woodcuts and the story they tell.

However, I have included tiny letters in the base of the bottles. Right at the bottom, underneath the woodchips (which, by the way, come from the carvings in the bottles, had to add some from other works too, but only a few ).

To read this messages, the buyer would have to break open the bottles which will most likely never happen. So the text on these messages will forever be my secret… unless … someone owning the bottle really gets too curious … I guess an ‘artist created-Message in a bottle’ will in most cases will fail its purpose, because if there should be, (for example) a cry for help bottled up inside, no one will ever come to the aid, cos the artwork is of much more value if unopened?

We'll see ...

PS: Needless to say, I have been using bottles previously containing the social water of Viva con Agua de Sankt Pauli e.V. ...

Installation view 'Message in a bottle' at SCOPE Miami, Dec 2014 (photo courtesy of Lori Zimmer / Art Nerd New York / CF Gallery).

EXIT | Special project for GUDBERG

EXIT. (2013)Base: Part of ,Miniatur Wunderland Hamburg‘; woodcut, acrylic paint, paper.© Alex Diamond — EXIT. (2013)
Base: Part of ,Miniatur Wunderland Hamburg‘; woodcut, acrylic paint, paper.
© Alex Diamond

This is a commissioned work for an artist-edition project by fine art publisher and gallery GUDBERG (Hamburg) and ,Miniatur Wunderland Hamburg‘, the largest model railway in the world.

The base for this work is a 20 x 20 cm cutout of a part of the model. These pieces are given to various artists to modify and turn into something else. This is my take on the project, and it comes with a reference to the smartest artist of the world.

For purchase information or more about this project check with GUDBERG (link).

Back view of EXIT (2013)
© Alex Diamond

Detail view of EXIT (2013)
© Alex Diamond

'RAGE' | WOODCUT, OCT 2013

Rage. (or: Don't wake Schacke)woodcut, acrylic paint, 30 x 40 x 3 cm (2013) — Rage. (or: Don't wake Schacke)
woodcut, acrylic paint, 30 x 40 x 3 cm (2013)

*UPDATE: This work was recently re-named to ,Don‘t wake Schacke‘, just my tribute to one of the finest guys in the universe.

After finishing the first woodcut involving The Incredible Hulk (read more), which was supposed to be a one-off created for the annual exhibition ,Don‘t Wake Daddy‘, the most prestigious international Low Brow-Gallery show in Germany at Feinkunst Krüger (Dec 2013), I got restless & hooked on the topic ... and went straight back to the studio to come up with this one. While the first work (,Don‘t get me started‘) is rather ,soft spoken‘ despite the anger represented in The Hulk, this one is rather wild and furious in every aspect of the painting.

The title of the work, as in most of my recent woodcuts, is written within one of the many background layers I start out with when prepping the foundation for this kind of paintings and, as usual, hard or impossible to read once the work is finalized. Here, I have been working with the contradiction and built-in frustration found in the stronghold that we believe we need to build around us in order to protect our true feelings (and furthermore to keep control over the incontrollable), which eventually leads to rage: ,How do you say FUCK OFF and I LOVE YOU in one painting?‘

The Hulk, however, has no ability to hold back his anger, and to (often falsely) control the feelings that ignite rage. Thus said, in this work he is most likely one of the rare possible artistic depictions of emotions as irritating as the title suggests.

Some more detail images from the work below, because unfortunately woodcuts are difficult to be shown properly in digital (or, for that matter, printed) form. At the end of the day, they are pretty haptic and can only be properly apprehended (and probably even appreciated) when confronted live and personal.

'Don't get me started' | woodcut, Oct 2013

Don‘t get me started. Wood carving, acrylic paint, wood, 40 x 30 x 3 cm (2013) © Alex Diamond — Don‘t get me started.
Wood carving, acrylic paint, wood, 40 x 30 x 3 cm (2013)
© Alex Diamond

This is the latest woodcut coming out of the studio, and most likely a pretty rare one regarding the depiction of a well known Superhero. A Superhero that‘s not really a hero at all times, and most definitely not from his own motivation, and the fact that anger triggers his transformation from nice guy to a huge and powerful menace made the Incredible Hulk become my all time favorite in the Marvel Universe. And yes, I do believe that he is the strongest of all Superhero‘s, and not Thor, as often claimed.

In this work, The Hulk stands for the rage and anger inside of us (me), that comes out when certain triggers are pulled. The interesting question will always be: to what result? What are the choices made in these situations? How much do we loose control? And can we create something positive from anger at all?

I am pretty sure this is something many of us can relate to. But it definitely is a very personal and „autobiographic“ work.

Note: The inspiration for the depiction of Hulk came from Gabriel Hardman, a very famous and amazing comic artist who‘s been drawing this character for many years. His images simply stood out when I was researching the Hulk for reference material.

Work in progess ...

First glimpse at a new woodcut I am currently creating for the annual group show DON'T WAKE DADDY at Feinkunst Krüger in Hamburg (December 2013).

'Don't get me started', woodcut & acrylic paint on woodblock, 40 x 30 x 3 cm

Alexander van Diamond by Jo Fischer

A few weeks ago, my dear friend Jo Fischer and I were invited to the wedding of a close buddy of ours. I had the privilege of being in front of the master's lens quite a few times. Thanks Jo, for capturing those beautiful moments.