When and what was your motivation for founding the Hood Projects gallery in Düsseldorf with your business partner Andreas Kopp from the artists’ supplies shop Hood-Company?
As an art historian, the idea of opening a gallery is never far from mind. While working on several exhibitions (e.g. ‘Scola’ – Galerie Töchter und Söhne), I noticed that I really enjoyed some aspects of this field of activity. Once I had realised this for myself, I had a conversation with my business partner and the idea of an exhibition space became serious in 2021.
Where is your gallery located in Düsseldorf, how big is it and how many exhibitions do you organise each year? What is the focus of your gallery?
Our gallery is a 10 minute walk away from Düsseldorf’s main railway station in the Oberbilk district. On a manageable 35 square metres, spread over 2 rooms, we want to organise 3 exhibitions per year, preferably with artists from the field of post-vandalism or with style writers who have come up with and worked out something special.
What criteria do you use to select the artists?
That’s my job, because my partner gives me a free hand when it comes to choosing artists. He knows that I have a precise idea of our gallery programme and that I am extremely reluctant to be talked into this field. Over the 40 years that I’ve been involved with style writing, street art and post-vandalism, I’ve developed preferences that I find difficult to ignore.
When it comes to make a concrete selection for an exhibition, I search in my spectrum. This consists of artists from the areas mentioned above, many of whom I have been following closely for decades. In this way, I want to be able to trace their development and at the same time establish which of them still have fire and where the punk is. First of all, I look for a work that triggers a visual appeal, an aesthetic attraction in me – I’m probably quite simple-minded in that respect. In the second step, I scan the artist for relevance, be it art-historical, social or political. Then I contact them and hope to meet a nice person.
How did these exhibition titles ‘Acts of Postvandalism’ come about?
When I have heard or read reports about actions by stylewriters in the English-language media over the past few decades, the idiom ‘acts of vandalism’ has been used very often. It stuck with me and then adding the word ‘post’ was almost too easy a way of finding a name.
In the brochure for this 2nd exhibition, you write that the selection of artists for ‘actsofpostvandalism2024’ is based on sculptural practice. The American artist Revok is part of this exhibition with paintings on canvas. To what extent are his works sculptural?
If you look at Revok’s entire oeuvre, you realise that one of his recurring themes is to blur the boundaries between painting and sculpture. However, this does not apply to the work he produced for ‘‘actsofpostvandalism2024’. It was the purest and finest post-vandalism painting.
Based on your question, I notice a lack of clarity regarding the orientation of ‘‘actsofpostvandalism2024’, which is why I’m taking this opportunity to explain the concept of the second exhibition in a little more detail. First of all, this is my private pleasure and has nothing to do with the gallery.
I am a painter myself and at some point during my time as an art history student I realised that I was only interested in precisely those seminars that related to modern painting. However, as the degree programme also included other areas and periods of fine art, I unintentionally had to deal with these areas as well. This ended as soon as I finished my studies.
A serious consideration of other forms of art only returned when the sculptures of Keinfriede were recommended to me. I was very impressed by his contribution to the first ‘actsofpostvandalism’ , and my mind was occupied for a long time with the somehow contradictory presence it had in the room.
For the second exhibition, I was asked to represent the sculptural area of postvandalism more strongly. This fitted in very well with my intention to show works by Stephen Burke. Stephen Burke, who has done a lot of groundwork in summarising this art movement through his Instagram account post_vandalism and who impresses me with his socially critical works, had been on my mind for a long time and this was finally the opportunity. EGS was a different story. He is an example of an artist I have known for decades, followed his career and when he started making glass sculptures, I was puzzled. It was only on someone else`s recommendation that I returned to his works and was only fully convinced when I unpacked his sculptures, held them in my own hands and set them up for presentation. Those were very beautiful moments, especially when the sunlight really set them ablaze. Kai Richter, a very old companion of mine, completed the sculptural side of the show very well with his object.
Intentionally with a bit of distance, but not symbolising separation, the opposite side of the exhibition consisted of a group of canvases. Presented to the left and right of a corner were a total of three large-format works by Tilt and Revok. Their paintings rounded off the exhibition very well with their impressive visual presence. When planning ‘actsofpostvandalism2024’, I felt it was very important to add to the sculptural side a pictorial side. The idea was to create a kind of physical complementary contrast, in which both sides gain impact precisely by the emphasis of their differences.
The ‘actsofpostvandalism’ series is now the second exhibition, after the first in 2023. Works by other artists are presented here and also in a different location. How did this new space come about? Will you be able to use it more often?
It is our declared aim to consider very little as fixed and set. The space, time, duration, number of artists or focus of the exhibition are deliberately not constants.
I read that you are a fan of Abstract Expressionism. What connections do you see between the visual artists of this genre and art movement and the artists with origins in style writing?
Yes, I’m a big fan of the Abstract Expressionists and that explains a lot of my preference for Post-Vandalism painting. Both forms of abstract painting have very little else in common. The rejection of figurative representation, of course, but not much more after that, because the background of each direction is completely different. While Abstract Expressionism is more about something spiritual, transcendental, the advantage of postvandalism is precisely the different ways in which it conveys the unseen or unintentionally seen aspects of city life.
What do you think is the difference between the term post graffiti, which has long been used in the scene, and the relatively new term postvandalism? I’m not referring to the use of the term post graffiti by art dealers, as used by American gallery owners in the 1980s. Rather, it is used by many artists from the scene themselves, increasingly since the 00s, for example as a # under their own posts. Postgraffiti here also means breaking out of classic style writing, further development with newly found forms and visual languages (by detaching from letters), and mostly abstract. What is the difference between the two terms for you?
Over the decades, I have developed a very personal and strong aversion to the term graffiti. This is partly due to the vagueness of its definition and the clichés with which it is tainted. It makes no difference to me whether I write ‘post’ in front of it or ‘writing’ behind it. For me, the term post-vandalism is more accurate. It simply describes far more the upheaval, the radical element, the new creation by destroying the outdated. If you take this time-honoured topos of art history and take a closer look at the artists working in this direction of abstract art, you realise how much sense it makes.
You get the feeling that new terms are constantly being invented in this scene in order to define certain sectors, styles and visual languages, including for mediation, whether as a gallery owner, curator, art historian, author or even as an artist. Why is this the case and is it necessary in your eyes?
On a very general level, many people need terms to categorise things quickly, it makes life easier. If you consider how our modern society is structured, then it’s also part of the fact that for the art world and the art market with its addiction to new things, every few years a pig with a catchy name has to be chased through the village. The street art, style writing and postvandalism scenes have obviously adapted to mainstream art.
The scenes have adapted, but the artists themselves haven’t defined themselves as post-vandals, have they? Does that mean that you, as a gallery owner, have adapted to mainstream art by using this term?
Since Stephen Burke has an Instagram account with this term and has repeatedly stated this in interviews and books, it shows that at least one participant in ‘actsofpostvandalism’ defines himself as such.
For me personally, it is very possible that I have more or less consciously adapted. However, my problem with the other, widely propagated term postgraffiti, as described above, did not leave me much room for manoeuvre.
You define postvandalism here as an art movement. Larissa Kikol wrote in her edited volume ‘Post-Vandalism – An Aesthetics of the Street’ for Kunstforum in 2023: ‘Post-vandalism is a term that does not explicitly designate a “new” art movement, but was nevertheless long overdue.’ So no new art form, no new style and no new art movement after all?
Your question is aimed at a contradiction on my part, which I cannot give you. It’s not necessarily an either/or, it’s more of a both/and. Larissa Kikol is absolutely right when she writes that the term ‘does not explicitly designate a “new” art movement’ because its roots lie far back in time. Nonetheless, the artists categorised as postvandalism have only come together in the last 15 to 20 years, i.e. in a period that is more likely to be described as ‘young’ or ‘new’ in the art historical calendar. The differentiation of this movement lies with Niels ‘Shoe’ Meulman and his ‘Unrulygallery’. Through exhibitions and the publication of books, he formed this independent movement, which, like Art Informel or Constructivism, is categorised as abstract art. And a small addition: in my humble opinion, postvandalism is currently the most interesting part of contemporary art because of the vehemence it depicts and its inherent dynamism, due to its very origins.
What kind of audience comes to your gallery? What is the response like?
Our audience is very diverse, in all relevant respects. The only thing we can say for sure is that people of retirement age don’t come to us. Otherwise, we are sometimes surprised at how big our resonance chamber is. Thanks to the Internet, enquiries come from many countries, including countries outside Europe. I am also very impressed that many visitors from our immediate neighboring countries find their way to us.
How much do you want to reveal about this year’s programme?
This year’s first event in our gallery will be a product presentation by Märklin in collaboration with Os Gemeos, including a small exhibition. I’m very excited about the public’s interest in two such famous names that come from very different areas and whose common denominator is the best design of railway carriages.
However, the actual gallery programme begins with an exhibition of works by Nils Jendri. It was long overdue to ask him, as he is one of the artists who best captures the spirit of post-vandalistic painting. I am looking forward to showing his latest works.
Thank you Peter Michalski for your time!
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