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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.

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





No flag

November 3, 2020

Allright, it’s time for another politically infused (or rather inflamed) painting, this one here is a brand new Flaum van Kreuzen that I have been working on and off for some weeks now, aptly titled

NO FLAG

and still unavailable at the moment, as I am not sure if I will continue working on it after the coming night. It might need more rage, but maybe it also needs a bit more healing powers, let’s see how it all goes down on this rough day. One good thing about my van Kreuzen-project is that there are no other goals for these works than the process of creation itself. If that makes sense.

Now dear people with their brains still attached to the values of humanity and democracy - go put an end to the shit show. The world deserves a break.


"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 …

On the other side of the storm

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I have carved these waves for over ten years, inspired by the grandmasters of the japanese woodcut like Hiroshige or Hokusai. This year I return a bit to these more straightforward and clean works, in an even more reduced color palette (one in the backgound plus the wood).

ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STORM
Part 2 of a series of 4 woodcuts
Wood, acrylic paint, 40 x 30 x 3 cm (2020)

This is from a series of original artworks I am creating for my ongoing collaboration with Geberit.

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!

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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.

Happy New Year and the final drawings ...

Number #100 ! The final piece …

Number #100 ! The final piece …

Allright. So here we are, the year 2020 is pretty young, and so I think a Happy New Year is still in order! ❤️

Here’s a little update on last years’ project “The Daily Drawings of Alex Diamond”: I finished drawing number 100 in December 2019. I might continue with something similar in 2020, we’ll see, but this part of the project is closed now.

There's been a lot of requests lately, and most of them are gone now. This is humbling and beautiful, and in case you still want one - here is what is left (status while writing this post), and here you can find all 100 of them.

I will however produce the 2nd mini catalogue shortly (Nr. 1 was from drawing #001 – #050, Nr. 2 will be from #051 – #100). I took the liberty to frame them all and change the price a bit: they are 99 € (framed and with free catalogue Volume 1).

Still way too cheap if you ask me, except maybe for the number #100! If you want that - that’ll be 999 €.

Why? Well, because it is and alway will be the rarest one. 😉


New label for Kehrwieder Kreativbrauerei

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Always happy like a little child on Christmas when I hold one of the beers by Kehrwieder Kreativbrauerei with a new label created by me in my hands! The latest one is for FOFFTEIN, a blonde Ale that Oliver Wesseloh created jointly with Dominik Großefeld, the owner of the legendary St. Pauli bar Silbersack as their house brew.

It is the most-Hamburg-related label I created for Kehrwieder so far, and I am superhappy with the result. And the beer is super nice as well, as always with the beers that master brewer and beer artist Oliver produces!

Enjoy responsibly!

Hands and carburetor by my buddy Mario Kleinschmidt / Kleinschmidt Kustoms.

Hands and carburetor by my buddy Mario Kleinschmidt / Kleinschmidt Kustoms.

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.

Trophy for HANS Award - der Hamburger Musikpreis

The "Diamond Cassette Player" - woodcut, painting and sculpture combined for the 2016 HANS Music Award-Trophy.

I had the honor to create this year's trophy for the music award HANS der Hamburger Musikpreis. It is an annual award, each year the organizers invite an artist to create a unique trophy. The only prerequisite: the rectangle and 3-dimensional format. The trophies will not be reproduced but are originals for each category. A big job when you have to create 11 trophies ... but a beautiful one as well. I had lots of fun coming up with my very own version of a classic cassette player ... the Alex Diamond Portable Tape Recorder! 

Just thinking about who now has an original Diamond on their trophy shelve at home makes me feel very proud! The winners: Beginner (they won in three categories), Music Icon and Legend Udo LindenbergHaiyti aka Robbery, Johannes OerdingFARHOT and Folkert Koopmans. (Hope it's not just going to be firewood ...)

Thank you Uriz Von Oertzen and your team for the support and to show host Lukas Nimscheck for the nice interview on the historic music stage at the Markthalle Hamburg!

Below are some images and a short video - as I was also given the opportunity to talk about the work live on stage at the event (in german). 

 

 

Collaboration work: Mist Of Madness - with Jay Olé & Rune Christensen

Jay Olé, Rune Christensen & Alex Diamond: MIST OF MADNESS (2016)
30 x 40 cm, paper, acrylic paint, ink, marker, spray paint on woodblock

This is a collaboration with fellow artists Jay Olé and Rune Christensen for the exhibition MIST OF MADNESS at the heliumcowboy artspace in Hamburg. MIST OF MADNESS is a group show curated by Rasmus Fischer, curator of the Galerie Wolfsen, Aalborg (DK).

In addition to the original artwork, this piece was also editioned as a limited silk screen print that was sold at the opening of the exhibition on November 4, 2016. While the original artwork was sold on the vernissage, there may still be a few prints left, please check the heliumcowboy online store if your are interested.