Christian Awe’s paintings arise, while sprayed patterns are overlapped by lots of layers of acryl color, in order to expose them at some points afterwards again

Christian Awe dabbes his eyes with Aloe Vera: “Apparently this helps with sunburns”, he says, pointing to the redness beneath his right eye. “I underestimated the sun in Gießen.” Here, the Berlin artist holds lectures on Urban art at the Justus Liebig University. He used to illegally spray-paint walls of houses, today he is an internationally recognized artist.

„A certain amount of chaos is pretty beneficial and also somehow inspiring for art”, comments Christian Awe in his atelier-atmosphere with a wink

A visit to the studio of Christian Awe in Berlin Lichtenberg: a large bright room, cluttered with large format canvases. Colors in different variants. In the background a sofa corner. Why has he opted for the working-class district of Lichtenberg, where there seems to be quite attractive areas in Berlin. “I grew up here, and travel around the world several months each year. This is my home, my anchor point.” Of course he would have already been living in Mitte-district. The Friedrichshain-area? Nah. Rather not. It’s too established, too touristy; it just lacks creativity. “Even in the Spandau-district more is happening. Lichtenberg was a tough district for years, but with good working conditions.”

Christian Awe studied with Georg Baselitz, graduated as a master student of Daniel Richter

Awe, who studied at the University of the Arts in Berlin with Georg Baselitz, graduated as a master student of Daniel Richter, chose next to art the subject sports. Isn’t that a rather unusual combination? “No, not at all”, Awe laughs. “Painting has a lot to do with movement.” And he tells about the ‘Kunst am Bau’-projects (Art-in-Architecture) where he is acting partly in wind and rain in 33 meters height. Twelve weeks he worked for the wall painting in Lichtenberg , every day he had to go up the scaffolding 20 time. That’s 6 times down Mount Everest and up again. Wasn’t he ever afraid of heights? No, now he isn’t, it’s all a matter of training. “The truck swings up to one and a half meters. I sometimes ask myself, why I actually do this.”

Working material – organization in a creative chaos

In fact, he has done a lot of sport, which earned him the title “German Champion” in streetball. “I always loved Basketball, but there wasn’t any in the GDR”, says Christian Awe and grins: “For us, it was called netball.” He tells how he experienced the fall of the Berlin Wall with eleven. There was a cultural vacuum, familiar structures broke away, the old sports clubs were suddenly gone. The kids were hanging out on the street. “Nevertheless, there was a lot of energy for the emergence of the graffiti scene, which was also an expression of that hip hop culture.” At that time, a cultural space developed, from which the hype Berlin still benefits.

Art-works in progress and in the middle a suitcase: Christian Awe is always on the run

Christian Awe, who now can look back on solo exhibitions in Istanbul, Perm and Miami and has taught at Princeton University and at Yale, made the jump from the Urban Art to the art galleries. And he committs himself to others: charity painting in favor of SOS Children’s Villages, art workshops for young people and the project ‘The young Mesopotamia’ , which is about the reconstruction of art and culture in Iraq. Most recently, he supported the construction of a school in Burkina Faso, West Africa.

Finished works ready for shipping

With his wall paintings, he wants to put a focus on the democracy of art. “Nowadays a lot is getting lost in our society, lots of people are excluded. I try to bring art outside, onto the streets. I think art and culture are the main components that hold our community together”, he explains his big pictures, of which the wall painting ‘Andanzé’ with the size of a tennis court recently got revealed during the Berlin Gallery Weekend in Schöneberg.

15 helpers were needed to install the wall painting Adanzé, which has the size of a tennis court, at the exterior wall

Ceremonial unveiling in Schöneberg with movie screening in the ‘Odeon’ movie theatre during the last Berlin Gallery Weekend

Only the wall painting in Lichtenberg is 500 square meters big. Apparently the difficulty is to translate the movement in the size. “Actually I prefer to start working just right away. But this is not possible in terms of such a big picture. There must be a draft and rough arrangements.” The Lichtenberger wall painting brought 36,000 points of transfer. Grids have been created and every point has been sketched, therefore 13,000 meters of tape were used. And he adds: “Every painting that is bigger than five meters is vast. That’s probably why so few painters, that are good in painting broadsheets, exist.”

A new work-series: three-dimensional water drops

It seems like Christian Awe doesn’t like stagnations. Someone like him, who also gets up during the night to paint, always has a new project in the pipeline: a series of works, which seem to be mirrored in three-dimensional water drops. One stands in front of the painting and wonders oneself about the amazing, real effect. Those works are currently presented in the Dusseldorf gallery Ludorff within the scope of the group exhibition “Open Water” with works of other artists like Max Liebermann and Gerhard Richter. Definitely an illustrious society, you would think. “I’m kind of like ‘the new kid on the block’”, answers Christian Awe a little bit sheepishly, “but it’s pretty awesome to be shown on such a scope.” BvH

Some more of the three-dimensional water drops

Time for relaxation is a must

In actual preparation are exhibitions in the Berlin gallery Fahnemann, in Frankfurt together with the Deutsche Bank, the gallery Tristan Lorenz and also in the art association Bad Dürkheim as well as another ‘Art-in-Architecture’-project in Miami

You can also see his previous works in his monograph, which will be released soon

“The colorfulness of the graffiti era still shapes my paintings. Nevertheless, my pictures have nothing to do with street art anymore.”

Contact:
www.christianawe.com

The post Exclusive insights into Christian Awe’s studio appeared first on My Stylery.

The livingroom of Anna Jill Lüpertz and Markus Keibel in their cosy old building

When two people move in together, it happens that two lives and two households are mixed together. But what if one doesn’t like the couch of the other one or finds it even ugly? When the Berlin gallery owner Anna Jill Lüpertz and the artist Markus Keibel met each other eight years ago and shortly afterwards decided to create a shared home in Anna’s 170 square meters flat in an old building, there was no approach for a discussion. ART-piece, the apartment was literally empty.

Markus Keibel and Anna Jill Lüpertz

Anna Jill Lüpertz: When I moved in I had nothing except for a bed and a couch.
Markus Keibel: And I brought things that were missing. This has been a good supplement.
MyStylery: Are you always so harmonious?
AJL: Mostly (laughs). The Farrow & Ball-wallpaper in the corridor still comes from the predecessor. We didn’t remove it, because we couldn’t decide on a wall color. I love colors like the one in the living room, a mixture out of old silk and DDR-anteroom-optic.
MK: True, every color is being discussed. I wished myself at least one white room. Nevertheless I was able to assert myself in the kitchen. Basically Anna likes to have more, I like to have less.

Right on the wall the Neon-Installation ’I‘ by Pietro Sanguineti

MS: More or less of what?
AJL: I love small things and so called bits and bots. For example I can’t have enough of vases! Markus always puts everything away and believes that I won’t notice it. It’s important to him, that everything is clear, clean and tidy.
MK: For me it’s quality before quantity. And that the things tell a story. After the end of the war, the empire-secretary has been pulled through whole Western Pomerania in a handcart by my grandmother. It accompanied me like the banana-plant throughout my whole life.
AJL: The other plants we purchased together. Markus got the green thumb.

At her eleventh birthday Anna got portrayed by the big A.R. Penck and gave it to her afterwards. Above the house-bar on an antique sewing table, in which Anna still stores needle and thread

MS: What is important to both of you in your home?
AJL: To me, the bed is the most important place. This is where I work, here I live. And books…
MK: … Exactly. Our books are our joint smorgasbord. I find apartments without books disconcerting. This is also an expression of quality of life.

After the end of the war, Markus grandmother moved the antique secretary in a small wagon hundreds of kilometers

MS: Do you always agree on art or are there different points of views?
AJL: When I met Markus, I was afraid, that his art could be bad trash. Then I secretly googled him and was totally relieved afterwards.
MK: I’m concept-artist; this is the contrary of what influenced Anna in her childhood by the art of her father. Art is a new issue of attitude, not of the taste. BvH

On the commode you can see Anna’s vase collection, above A.R. Penck: ‘Anna with horse’ of 1980. “My horse was much bigger in reality”, says Anna laughing

Above the sofa an ink-drawing of Peter Stauss. On the right and beneath sketches of Anna’s father Markus Lüpertz

“I clearly have a bio-craze”, says Anna about the loaded ecologically correct content of the shelves in the kitchen

A present of Anna’s stepmother: kitchen-chairs by Arne Jacobsen

On the wall photographs of the family

Anna on her balcony in her apartment in Berlin-Moabit

In the floor Anna stores the rests of the glass menagerie of her grandmother: “I’m especially sorry for the emaciated Chernobyl-fawn”, says Anna Lüpertz and grins

In the book shelve a small aquarelle, a present of Anna’s stepmother. “She says this is how I look when I drink red wine.”

Cozy corner in the bedroom, beneath a sketch of Peter Stauss. “On the left hangs an old line, which Markus pasted over. An early work”, says Anna Lüpertz winking

Impressive stucco, no matter where you look at

In the bedroom a new work of Markus Keibel: Ultra Amnesia, ash, gouache, pigment, acryl on canvas, 2015

James Lee Byars: ‘Letter to my mother’, beneath a Chinese commode with a ceramic sculpture by Veronika Brovall

On the Asian cupboard in the guest room you can see a picture from the family property: Still life with Spanish women

Photographic work by Robert Montgomery: ‚Forster-Fire-Poem‘ from 2014

In the vitrine that is placed in the floor a work of Markus Keibel: ‘Lampedusa’. The graphical wall paper behind originates back to the previous resident, the actor Inga Busch

Black and silver: a work by Markus Keibel. Without a title, acrylic paint on aluminum. Markus spotted the old dining table in a pub, above a lamp by Moooi

The skateboard collection of Markus Keibel, who attended European championships when he was younger and also drives nowadays: “Those skateboards stand here for a reason, not just for aspects of decoration”, emphasizes Anna and laughs

Contact:

Anna Jill Lüpertz Gallery
Potsdamerstr. 98a
10785 Berlin
www.ajlgallery.com

Berlin Art Week:

Tableau, 2000-2007, Artist Book by Pola Sieverding
Wednesday, the 16th of September
Potsdamerstraße 109 / Kurfürstenstraße 28, 10785 Berlin
from 8 to midnight.

Opening hours:
September 17/18/19, noon-10pm
September 20, noon-6pm

New exhibition:
Der Falke glüht am Firmament – A Solo Show by Harald Hermann
Exhibition:
12th of September – 31st of October 2015

Opening hours:
Tuesday – Saturday 12 – 6 pm and upon appointment

Special opening hours during Berlin Art Week:
16th of September 12am – 9pm
17th of September 11am – 9pm
18th/19th of September 12am – 7pm
20th of September 12am – 6pm

The post A visit to Anna Jill Lüpertz appeared first on My Stylery.