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"It's all good." Special Edition Book Launch | October 28 at heliumcowboy

Please join me for the release of the book „It's all good.", documenting my largest exhibition to date in the Barlach Halle K in June 2022. For this event we’ll publish a very exclusive and strongly limited edition with individually painted covers by me.

The presentation is embedded in a small exhibition at the heliumcowboy gallery, showing selected work from the main show at Barlach Halle K. Have some drinks with me on the opening night on Friday, October 28, from 6 to 10 pm, or visit the exhibition the two weeks after.

Please note: This first batch of the book is limited to 50! It can be pre-ordered in our shop - please follow this link.

As a little preview, you can read the foreword of the book by Melvin as well see as the first 9 pages of the book over at heliumcowboy’s news page.

Click image to pre-order your copy.

It's all good. The photos! All of them.

I’ve made it! I went through all the great photos that were taken during my solo exhibition „It’s all good.“ that took place in June 2022. I tried to reduce the output - but I just couldn’t really. So here is a pretty exhausting look into this show that was my largest and probably most important to this day.

Besides these photos by Julia Schwendner, Eric Anders, and our very own Lucy Pfeiffer, there’s a video coming out soon as well. Also we just launched a new episode of the heliumTALK-podcast, in which Melvin and I are talking in depth about the exhibition. You can also listen to the podcast of Der Hamburger Magazin, which is released July 15 and where I speak about this show as well (both podcasts in german language).

Later this year (some time in fall) we’ll be launching a catalogue about this exhibition. Because Print is beautiful.

All the artwork and more info is on the exhibition page at heliumcowboy.

You can also find some images and videos on my instagram profile.

Thanks again to Melvin from heliumcowboy gallery, to Elvie and Angelika from Barlach Halle K, to Angela for the Dinner, to the team and helpers Lucy, Puhli, Elo, Theo, Mara, Dirk, Jana, Ronja; to the musicians Duo Sabiar & Pinewood Road, to all our guests and visitors, to the supporters and buyers, our sponsors Frida (Kappich & Piel), Birger (518 consulting), Jens (Art-Lawyer), Martin (Tesch Wein), Julia & Olli (Kehrwieder Kreativbrauerei), and to Yvonne, who makes it all possible in the first place. If I forgot anyone, let me know!

PREVIEW by Julia Schwendner

VERNISSAGE by Eric Anders

EXHIBITION & INSTALLATION VIEWS by heliumcowboy

ABENDBROT by Lucy Pfeiffer

All the artwork and more info is on the exhibition page at heliumcowboy.

You can also find some images and videos on my instagram profile.

little big Update (and Works on paper)

“LIfe Goals”, ink on paper, 29,7 x 21 cm (2021)  check availabiliy here

“LIfe Goals”, ink on paper, 29,7 x 21 cm (2021)
check availabiliy here

I have been asked recently why there is not more new work online this year. I guess a lot of people are assuming that as an artist there is not much to do these day but be in the studio and churn out new pieces.

Well. I doubt that is applicable to every artist. Definitely not to me. The whole lockdown situation with homeschooling is taking a major toll. And while I love nothing more than spending time with my young son, you don’t get any work done when trying to support your kid while school and politics are failing in doing a proper job in this crisis. I know, this is a bit too general as well, I am sure there are teachers out there giving everything to help their students. Not in our case though, sorry.

But that is only a part of the reason why I am not spending every workday in the studio. There is the issue of transitioning the gallery to my oldest son, Melvin. He is in tough spot as well, considering the difficult situation he is in with not being able to show art at the physical space in Hamburg. He now moved most of it to the online world, but I am currently building him new moveable walls so he can make exhibitions in the windows. He has an exciting plan for this, it is going to be good! However, being the carpenter and builder in our set up, I am working a lot in the wood-workshop now too (which I just optimized in the beginning of the year, it’s a beauty to work there now! It is not all bad ;))

Then there are a lot of (art) projects I am working on, for my partners at Geberit and the Kehrwieder Kreativbrauerei for example, and also I have two bigger shows coming up this year, that need preparation. I still have to find a way to squeeze in my writing for the book, and yes, my farm in the countryside is another thing that needs a lot of attention this year, with some part of it in desperate need of repair and redevelopment. That house is very, very old.

I did not yet mention my podcast heliumTALK. But … well. That is an issue for a separate update, as I am not sure that it is really necessary any longer, with the digital overload of the times and new conversation platforms rising (such as Clubhouse for example). I need to think on that one a bit more.

I don’t need to get into the part of my life that is private, my family, my taking care of them and being the cook and handyman and loving father and such, and how I manage to get some hardcore fight workouts somewhere into this schedule, but let me just say this: I usually get up at 5. I dig into computer work right away with a cat and a coffee on my lap on the sofa, still in my pajamas. And after a looooong day I fall to sleep exactly five minutes after I go to bed, which can be anytime between 10:30 pm and way past midnight, depending on the workload …

The update about my art? I recently started one large work in my Hamburg studio. It is going to be big and it will take a few weeks to complete. And I also took out pens and paper again so I can do some drawings in between, because those are perfect for me to get into the zone when time is scarce.

If anything is available to acquire, it will be in the artwork section on heliumcowboy’s online portfolio here. Or just contact Melvin. I also updated this website with a lot of my current and earlier and vintage works on paper.

Stay safe, stay healthy, stay sane, stay radical and anti fascist and help those in need wherever it is possible for you. And keep in touch, I love hearing from you all.

Jörg aka Alex Diamond aka FvK ;)

Recent drawings

Final print release of the year: The end of a superpower (timed edition)

Click image to go straight to the online store. This is a timed edition, so all orders must be made before December 13 at midnight (german time).

Click image to go straight to the online store. This is a timed edition, so all orders must be made before December 13 at midnight (german time).

When I was thinking about releasing one last print for this messed up year, I didn’t have to look far: Personally I feel that my Flaum van Kreuzen (FvK) painting “The end of a superpower” is most likely the artwork that kind of captured 2020 the best, if you can put it like that.

Why? Well. My work process in the FvK project is one I describe as „irreversible decision making“, and “purely honest, unpretentious, unintentional and unfiltered" (you can read my full FvK artist statement here), so the result is never planned but influenced by chance and the time spend on the work itself and the things that happen etc.

“The end of a superpower” was only the fourth artwork of the project and the first for which I “constructed” a wooden base (= loosely connected some wood that was lying around the workshop in a totally random way). I smashed things, I tore things off again, I even threw parts of this in the fire pit, I painted layers on layers, rough and wild and in a punk rock kind of way, before I finally scratched the words of the title into the still wet spray paint and printing color because it reminded me of a well known flag. But the title was not just aimed at the self destruction of the United States under the idiot Donald Trump and his braindead minions. It is also a reference to what happened in general in our world this year, with the pandemic (at least initially) affecting everyone regardless of their position on the food chain or their role in suppressing the poor, exploiting capitalism and the general destruction of the world.

So yeah, there is a lot of anger and compassion in this one, after all, even though it was created in a flow that turned from experimental to free jazz to punk to hardcore death metal in a few days.

It is also one of these ominous artworks that a lot of collectors are drawn to when they are looking for a signature piece of an artist or a new series by one. Needless to say it was also one of these works in the show this September that could have been sold 10 times - after the red dot was sticking next to it. I personally believe there is some truth in this, but also a lot of psychology. I think a bunch of the other pieces in that exhibition should have registered as iconic as well (not just but “No monkey’s in this picture” for example is a very important work too).

So. All of this combined is why I felt this one should become a print.

And that you can buy online now at heliumcowboy as part of their Christmas-Print Special.

VERY IMPORTANT THOUGH: It is a timed edition. This means that you can only oder it until Dec 13 (Sunday) at midnight (german time). The amount of orders defines the total edition number. And after that deadline this work will NEVER EVER be reproduced or offered as any kind of edition ever again.

So. What are you waiting for:

Go get it!

Specifics:

Archival Pigment Print on 320 gsm Hahnemühle William Turner Fine Art Paper
36 x 39 cm
Signed and numbered

Print details:

Original artwork:

THE END OF A SUPERPOWER, 2020
Lino printing color, acrylic paint, spraypaint, oil pastels, marker, marker fluid, polychromos pens on wood. In handmade artist frame. 69 x 64 cm





A new sheriff in town

Photos by Julia Schwendner / thisisjulia.de

Photos by Julia Schwendner / thisisjulia.de

Alright. That was it. There is a change in management, not just in the US of A, but also here in Hamburg at heliumcowboy. I am back to only being an artist again, and no matter how much I loved building the gallery, it is a fucking relief. Here’s why:

This November I am handing over the reins to of the gallery to my son Melvin. I founded the heliumcowboy artspace back in 2002 but am resigning now from all my operative gallery work after almost two decades, so I can focus solely on my work as an artist. Melvin is now the new gallerist on the Ranch, and I couldn’t be any prouder: The exhibition „Hurry up please, it’s time“ that opens this weekend (Nov 14 & 15) is the first exhibition he curates in his new position.

Stepping back from my leading role at heliumcowboy has been my plan for a few years already, because running two full time jobs at the same time has always been very tough. So now I am finally again concentrating only on my art, which I create under the name of Alex Diamond since 2004 (and most recently with my Flaum Van Kreuzen-project). Looking back, my art was at the foundation of heliumcowboy all along: In 2002 I began to make exhibitions in my new artist studio in Hamburg St. Pauli, which I eventually turned into the internationally acclaimed gallery heliumcowboy … most of you probably know the story. It’s a good one, and it feels great to look back.

In 2016, Melvin assisted me for the first time setting up and executing an exhibition. With the 15-years anniversary show „Cowboyland“ in 2017 he came on board more permanently and has been my right-hand man for most of the shows at the gallery and on fairs since.

He is ready now to take on the whole business with a set of fresh eyes and new ideas for the art world. I will help out only with strategic issues if needed, but apart from that Melvin (22) is now most likely the youngest gallerist in town - and the new Head Honcho on the Ranch, to stick with our heliumcowboy lingo.

I hope you all will support him in this big new task ahead. Make sure to help keep a vibrant gallery scene alive by visiting the shows, spreading the word and of course by buying art.

Love and hugs

Jörg

PS: “Hurry up please, it’s time”, Melvin’s „inaugural“ exhibition as the gallerist of heliumcowboy opens this weekend (Saturday, November 14 from 2 – 8 pm and Sunday, November 15 from 12 – 5 pm). Unfortunately the times don’t allow for a big celebration, but you can book a timeslot at heliumcowboy.com/booking to make sure to congratulate him personally.


heliumcowboy_melvin+joerg_112020-026.jpg

"HOPPY WATERS" | new print edition

Together with Kehrwieder Kreativbrauerei I launch a special edition print on FRIDAY, August 7th, starting at 10 am. You can get it online, of course, but if in Hamburg - heliumcowboy is open Friday from 10 am - 6 pm.  

ABOUT THE EDITION:
 
Special silk screen print edition celebrating friendship - and alcohol free craft beer. It is exclusively available as standalone print at the heliumcowboy online store and the gallery, or packed into an 18-bottles ü.NN-beer box at shop.kehrwieder.beer (or directly at the brewery). In connection with the beer, the print is reduced in price (10 € less). The proceeds from the complete print run will be shared between Kehrwieder & heliumcowboy because, you know, as friends more than business partners we support each other.
 
The artwork is an adaption of the label created by Alex Diamond for ü.NN, the celebrated and award winning alcohol free beer of the Kehrwieder Kreativbrauerei in Hamburg.
 
It is called „Hoppy waters“ and was printed in an edition of 80. There are 6 additional prints available that are hand embellished by the artist (see below). You can purchase them online and at the gallery as well.
 
Print details:
 
Edition of 80
Paper size: 30 x 24 cm
3-color silkscreen print on Canson Edition
320 g/qm paper
Signed & numbered by the artist
Embossed with the artists’ seal

Hand-embellishing one of the prints of the edition for Kehrwieder Kreativbrauerei by drawing over them. I did that with six of the additional prints, if you are looking for that extra special special edition …

New Print Edition - Coming soon.

We are almost ready to launch the ü.NN-print edition! From August 7 you will be able to purchase my newest silkscreen print either inside a box of the best alcohol free beer on the planet (ü.NN by Kehrwieder Kreativbrauerei) via the brewery or just the print through us. More details soon!

In the video I am embellishing one of the prints by drawing over them. I did that with six of the additional prints, and these will be offered as well Aug 7, if you are looking for that extra special special edition …

Places I write ...

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So yeah, there is a lot of writing these days. I really prefer to write up north in the old farm house in (what I call) #cowboyland, but I still spend a lot of my time in Hamburg and yes, it is pretty great here in my studio at heliumcowboy as well, so I try to get some pages done here too.

Chapter one to three are ready, I am pleased with the flow of things and couldn't be happier for being able to write down my story, well the story of Alex Diamond. The book will be a big and beautiful art book, of course, but it will also be an autobiography, which is a great honor to be able to write and the experience of going back so many years and remember all those moments and stories is just beautiful .

This will take a longer time, for sure. And the gallery will not be as busy as before, during this period at least. But I'll keep doing the podcast and my art and might also be working with a few artists so there will always be something to look at and / or talk about at heliumcowboy - you are of course welcome to check in.

We plan something for April 3, when there is the next "Rundgang" of the Galerien in der Neustadt . Also Melvin might be up to something, so stay tuned.

Thank you for supporting me and everything that heliumcowboy stands for!

hugs/Jörg

PS: The book will be designed by Jan Müller-Wiefel and published by Gudberg Nerger Verlag. We are aiming for summer/fall 😉

PPS: This is not an advertisement 'cos I pay for my shit, but the shirt I am wearing is the 25 year anniversary shirt of the legendary RIDER’S ROOM in Hamburg (a colab with Pike Brothers Superior Garments ), so shoutout to Sven and Olli and the whole team for keeping it tight since 1995 ...

First “Daily Drawing” on a T-shirt - orders close March 11!

CREATOR-Black-front.jpg

Here it is: The first work from the series "The Daily Drawings of Alex Diamond" on a T-shirt! Special "reverse white" edition on black, navy, grey and blue.

You can get it here: https://everpress.com/alex-diamond-circles

And here is how it works:

You have a limited time (until March 11) to select and order your T-shirt on the Everpress website! Afterwards they get printed and shipped to you. Once orders are closed this exact edition will not be reprinted.

Some background: From the 100 "Daily Drawings" I did last year I picked this one to be the first to be featured on a T-shirt. It's an adaptation of course - the original is drawn with blue ink (see image) and I made a "negative" single-color version for this print.

This is artist Jens Rausch's favorite drawing of the series, it is also the cover of the first catalogue and I hope you love its simplicity and depth as much as Jens & I do.

Consolidating my social media and great photos by Jo Fischer

Photo ©Jo Fischer

Photo ©Jo Fischer

This is one off the photos my friend Jo Fischer shot recently when he visited me in at my farmhouse up north in my own personal #cowboyland … Jo truly is a remarkable photographer.

But I’d like to say something else with this series of images (2 more below) …

I am making some changes to my social media channels, it is just too much to post to AlexDiamond-heliumcowboy-heliumtalk on facebook-instagram-twitter all the f***ing time … that is unhealthy. I think. So I decided to consolidate all this and post mostly on the @heliumcowboy instagram from now on.

Don’t worry, it’s all gonna be there: All the gallery news and artists work, all the new podcasts, my art, my woodworking, my tractor, my public life … so if you don’t already - please follow me on @heliumcowboy⠀

The @alexxxdiamond account on instagram will stay, sure, but it will be a portfolio of my work. Let’s see if my life gets easier. And thank you if you’ve read all the way down to here.

@ Jo Fischer / jofischer.com

@ Jo Fischer / jofischer.com

@ Jo Fischer / jofischer.com

@ Jo Fischer / jofischer.com

T-SHIRT FOR FC ST PAULI FANS TORONTO


I am very excited to announce the launch of a new T-shirt - I believe the first one I made in 8 years or so. And what a special one: This T-shirt marks the official launch of the 'Hamburg Chapter' of FC St. Pauli Toronto Fans, a Canadian Fanclub of the FS St. Pauli.

Why oh why? Well, it is a longer story, It began with Melvin living in Toronto for a while back in 2016. He wanted to watch the games of our team, so he found the Fanclub run by Mark & Mari Palmer, and they watched the matches together at a bar with a bunch of other Sankt Pauli fans. When I visited my son in Toronto I also was infected by the friendliness and hospitality of these wonderful Canadian supporters, and after a while we planned to launch an informal Chapter of the club in Hamburg. Just because we can and because it embraces the barrier- and border-free mentality of St. Pauli Fans. More about this on their website.

Now, we'll launch this Chapter. And I made this T-shirt for it. And it can be pre-ordered now in the heliumcowboy online-store.

A portion of the sales will go towards a children’s art project we are launching this year together with charity Clubkinder e.V. from Hamburg. Neither the artist nor the gallery will make any profit from this product.

Artist Statement

The very typical Alex Diamond-characters that organically embrace the skull and the wording are a symbol for the friendship and connection amongst Sankt Pauli supporters wherever you are in the world. These characters are a part of my artwork for at least as long as my 20-year long membership with the FCSP, and choosing to include the political and social statement that was also on the first T-shirt I was given by Mark Palmer, the founder of the Toronto Fanclub in Canada 2019 was highly important to me - now more than ever in these troubled times. 

I know that a T-shirt or a sticker will not make the world a better place, but it can spread the word and show our resistance, and you cannot repeat enough that this world is no place for homophobia, fascism, sexism, racism or hate. Not now, nor ever.

The Love Me Or Die - Launch delayed by authorities

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Unfortunately there is no really satisfying update on the delay of the launch of our 2018 artist beer edition "The Love Me Or Die". This years' collaboration brew with Kehrwieder Kreativbrauerei is still on hold at the german authorities, bureaucracy ist preventing us from selling it until we get the necessary okay on the paperwork back.

We are very sad about this, not just because this is a passion project of master brewer Oliver Wesseloh & Alex Diamond that took a very long time to realize, but also because this is a more or less uncommercial project that only costs us money as long as we can't move the product. You can pre-order the beer boxes by mail, but that is all we can offer at the moment (please send a note to info@heliumcowboy.com if you are interested).

Please stay with us, we'll let you know once the beer is going to market. It will at some point, but until then we still have to haggle with the - hold your breath, english speaking friends - "Behörde für Gesundheit und Verbraucherschutz Hamburg, Fachbereich Lebensmittel- und Futtermittelsicherheit" ...

The Love Me Or Die - Launch on September 14

The launch of my latest artist beer with Oliver Wesseloh / Kehrwieder Kreativbrauerei draws nearer. While the beer still needs to be labeled, the limited edition Screen Print just arrived from Berlin's finest printer, Dolly Demoratti (motherdrucker.de). It looks AMAZING!

On September 14 we will officially launch "The Love Me Or Die" with a "Beernissage" at the heliumcowboy gallery. This event takes place during the Drunter & Drüber - Neustadt-Festival 2018 on September 14, 2018, from 4–9 pm.

This is the unique first chance to taste the beer and get the limited edition beer box including six 0,33l bottles of "The Love Me Or Die" Spiced Triple and the 8-color silk screen print of the original label artwork that's ONLY available in this box. The edition is limited to 100 boxes/prints.

Here's a link to the facebook invitation with more info.

Cowboyland!

Detail from my wall installation for the exhibition COWBOYLAND, to be revealed at the opening July 15.

Guys, we are getting closer to a very special event - in a bit more than a month I hope many of you will join me to celebrate 15 years of heliumcowboy artspace, the gallery I have founded in the year 2002 in a small space in Hamburg St.Pauli, a stone's throw away from the Millerntorstadium.

I have invited 57 artists for COWBOYLAND, our anniversary show opening July 15, that we will celebrate not only at the current gallery space in the Neustadt, but also in the backyard with a sweet summer party program, starting early in the afternoon at 3 pm!

I am so thrilled about the incredible line-up we got together for this, so happy that all these amazing artists confirmed to show with us on this special day: 

4000 * 56K/Ole Utikal * ADAMEVA * Adrian Landon Brooks * Alex Diamond * Alekseij Mirnij * Alex Yanes * Andrea Wan * Antonio Santin * Beau Stanton * Ben Tolman * Ben Venom * Blami * Boris Hoppek * Casey McKee * Christophe Lambert * David Shillinglaw * Elmar Lause * Frank Rösner * Gary Taxali * Heiko Müller * Heiko Zahlmann * Jan Kaláb * Henning Kles * Jade Townsend * Jay Olé  * Jaybo Monk * Jeff Soto * Jens Rausch * Jeremy Fish * Jim Avignon * Jo Fischer * Jon Burgerman * Jon Todd * Julia Benz * Mario Kleinschmidt * Mercedes Helnwein * melv12* Michel Lamoller * Mikael Takács * Milos Koptak * Miroir Noir * moki * Morten Andersen * Pandarosa * Rai Escalé * Rainer Boronowski * Rune Christensen * Ryan Monahan * Samuel Basset * Stefan Groenveld * The London Police * Victor Castillo * Volkano * Wasted Rita * Will Barras * Zezão

It has been quite a ride ... I will share some memories with you on heliumcobwoy.com over the next weeks, please check this link for the latest stories.

hugs & kisses ❤️ & thank you for 15 great years!

Facebook event:  Cowboyland - the first 15 years of the heliumcowboy artspace 
More info at heliumcowboy.com 

Interview in "Hamburgstories"

Read the complete story at "Hamburgstories" - click image to visit that page. Photo © Uta Gleiser

Read the complete story at "Hamburgstories" - click image to visit that page. Photo © Uta Gleiser

There is a very honest interview about my art and about heliumcowboy, the gallery I founded 15 years ago, over at hamburgstories.de . And some really nice shots from my studio by blog-author and photographer Uta Gleiser. Thank you for featuring me, Uta!