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Clemens Krauss
Large Self-portrait 2004/2009
Silicone, own hair, mixed media
2010
Private collection
Photo © B. Borchardt |
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 ustrian artist Clemens Krauss is an artist working in diverse media who comments on the social and physical borders between our internal and external worlds. He employs a unique method of thickly applying up to 100 kg of oil paint directly on gallery walls in the creation of his figures. In addition, Krauss creates latex silicone skin sculptures that participate in a discourse on physical boundaries, through the twisting and molding of realistic latex skin into deflated shapes and human-like objects. Krauss' video and performance works challenge and transcend the boundaries between artist and audience and question the distinction between these roles and art itself.
Born in 1979 in Graz, Austria, Krauss completed a degree as a medical doctor before switching fields and studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin, Germany. He received an MA in Fine Art at Central Saint Martins in London, England. Krauss co-founded the artistic alliance ’Unwetter’, a group of artists and art historians intervening in and interacting with art in institutionalized museum spaces. Krauss' work has been exhibited worldwide and is among the permanent collections of the Berlinische Galerie Berlin States Museum for Modern Art, Berlin; Honart Museum, Teheran; Kadist Art Foundation, Paris; Amigos do Serralves Museu de Arte Contemporanea, Porto; and MAM, Museu do Arte Moderna de Sao Paulo, to name a few. Krauss lives and works in Berlin, Germany and is represented by DNA gallery, Berlin and Dominik Mersch Gallery, Sydney.
Art Interview: Clemens, most people consider you to be a painter or a sculptor, but I understand you also do performance art. When did you begin doing interactive performances?
Clemens Krauss: I did my first performances during university, for example as part of my degree show, at Central Saint Martins College, called Consultation Hour. Visitors had opportunities to book private conversations with me in a partition of the gallery space and talk confidentially about their physical and psychological intimacies.
More recently, I had an exhibition at the museum Haus am Waldsee, which is in an amazing historical building in Berlin. I brought my own bedroom, living room, and dining room into to museum. Then, I lived there for the duration of the show.
The visitors could sit down on the sofa and watch TV on my television or read books from my library. They interacted and participated in my private life.
The work was particularly relevant in an institution that had a history as a mansion and a private house before it was turned into a museum of contemporary art. It is one of the oldest museums of contemporary art in Berlin.
Art Interview: Before studying Fine Arts in London you received a degree in medicine. How old were you when you became a medical doctor?
Clemens Krauss: I was very young when I finished my medical degree, but I only worked as a doctor for a short time, because I decided that I wanted to continue studying.
Art Interview: Were you making art before you studied medicine?
Clemens Krauss: Yes, I always had this kind of drive to work creatively. When I was 13, I made my first short films with a video camera and drew comics - like many boys do. For the decision to finally go into art I probably needed an excursion into natural science. I am still pleased that I did the medical degree, and I would do it again. It was an amazing experience.
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Clemens Krauss
A Space
Temporary wall painting
2006
DNA Galerie Berlin
Photo © B. Borchardt |
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Art Interview: What do your parents do for a living?
Clemens Krauss: Something decent. (Smiles) I grew up in southern Austria - I don't want to call it the sticks, but it's quite contemplative there - and pretty.
Art Interview: Are you related to the composer Clemens Krauss?
Clemens Krauss: No, but there is a musical side in our family. Maybe there is a distant relationship between us; I don't know. If you “Google” my name we both come up, which is interesting because he is very important historically; he was a director for Richard Strauss and the director of the opera houses in Vienna, and Berlin.
Art Interview: Did your family encourage your creativity?
Clemens Krauss: To be honest, I think I was always encouraged to do what I wanted to do. But if you come from a rather provincial and conservative, background, you are taught that art is good, but making art isn't necessarily something “serious”. You listen to music and go to museums, but you become a lawyer or a civil engineer. Even though my parents never said “no,” it was still a struggle to leave the conservative bourgeois path.
Art Interview: What was their reaction to your decision to become an artist after completing your medical studies?
Clemens Krauss: Well, it was quite a soft transition, but there should be worse things than having an artist son.
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Clemens Krauss
5 Körper
Oil on canvas
Private collection
Photo © B. Borchardt
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Art Interview: Are they content with your choice?
Clemens Krauss: I think it's not my role to make my parents happy. But, I guess they are. We have a good relationship, even though it can be occasionally problematic. I address some of these themes including leaving home, living your own life, and being in another role in my show “Ein Alltag” going on right now at DNA. The phantom images in my work What remains of the Irrational and the video Elternhaus (Parental Home), raise these subjects. I have been independent for many years now, but it is still a theme that interests me.
Art Interview: You first studied art at the Universität der Künste Berlin, UdK and received your MA from Central Saint Martins. What was the attitude like in London?
Clemens Krauss: It was very exciting for me to be in London. St. Martins is in the very vibrant heart of London, Soho, although the venue is actually now going to be shut down and re-opened in Kings Cross. It was just a cool time. It was interesting, because it was much more divided into the different media. We had everything: people who made sculpture, people doing video and photography. But what I liked the most were the intensive exchanges and the communication amongst students and the tutors there.
Art Interview: Were there professors there that particularly inspired or assisted you?
Clemens Krauss: Well, at the end of the day, the most important part of education happens by yourself. When I was a student, I would go to exhibitions and see many things and have exchanges with other students. I never really depended on an individual tutor or professor. You select what you need, which is a process that takes time.
Art Interview: How did you begin working with commercial galleries?
Clemens Krauss: I had my first gallery shows already during university, I was always trying to work, show and connect outside the university context. A couple of years before graduating, I co-founded a group with six other people called Unwetter. Unwetter is a collective of artists and art historians, which organizes interventions in form of picnics in museums and institutional spaces. I think it is extremely important for a young artist to gain experience and knowledge through proactive engagement beyond art school horizons. So I also met my later gallerists. One thing always caused another.
Art Interview: You went from studying in Berlin to studying in London. How did you end up back in Berlin? Why didn't you stay in London?
Clemens Krauss: Well, I was considering staying in London after my studies. I really loved my time there, and I still go to London at least twice a year. But the more I travel there, the happier I am about my instinctive decision not to stay. We all know the reasons. The city does not make it easy for young artists. But up until a couple of years ago, I wasn't sure I'd remain in Berlin.
Art Interview: How were you financially surviving?
Clemens Krauss: I had a scholarship for my studies in Berlin and England. As a student, I had much lower living costs. Of course, nowadays they have multiplied. I always have the same problems, only on different levels.
Art Interview: Dominik Mersch Gallery in Sydney, Australia also represents your work. How did that relationship begin?
Clemens Krauss: I met Dominik in 2006. He saw a show of mine in Berlin. Then he invited me to come to Sydney in order to prepare a show. In the last few years, I have had two residencies in Australia.
Art Interview: How did you start exhibiting internationally?
Clemens Krauss: It just happened organically. It started with one show, and then I was invited to another. For example, in 2007 I exhibited the first time in Brazil. In 2008, I had already two more shows in Brazil, one in Sao Paulo and the other in Rio at the Museu de Arte Moderna. In the project “Aufwand” I painted directly on a huge wall. It was massive, and good fun. It was the largest thing I have ever done.
Art Interview: What do you consider to be the key factors to a successful career as an artist?
This oral history transcript is the result of a digitally recorded interview with Clemens Krauss on 5 July 2010. The interview took place at Clemens Krauss' studio in Berlin, Germany. Brendan Davis conducted this interview for Art Interview Online Magazine. Cara Cotner and Joanne Simson wrote the introductory text at the beginning of this interview. |
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