Some angry beasts at Feinkunst Krüger

No worries, no worries at all. 2020 Woodblock, broken plywood, acrylic paint, ink, pencil, nails. In slightly uneven artist frame. 30 x 24 cm — *No worries, no worries at all.* 2020
Woodblock, broken plywood, acrylic paint, ink, pencil, nails. In slightly uneven artist frame. 30 x 24 cm

I’ve created a small group of apparently angry beasts for the 15th edition of the annual super-exhibition “Don’t Wake Daddy” at Feinkunst Krüger Gallery in Hamburg. This is the biggest Low Brow-exhibition in Europe, and the artist line-up is full with insanely great talent:

Alexandra Lukaschewitz, Ana Juan, Aniela Sobieski, Andrey Klassen, Anthony Pontius, Brad Woodfin, Brian Serway, Caitlin McCormack, Claudia Six, Dewi Plass, Dolce Paganne, Elmar Lause, Erlend Tait, Ewa Pronczuk-Kuziak, Fred Stonehouse, Gregory Hergert, Hazel Ang, Heiko Müller, Jason Limon, John Casey, Kisung Koh, Marc Burckhardt, Marco Wagner, Marcus Schäfer, Mario Maplé, Miriam Zadil, Martin Nill, moki, Naive John, Pamela Tait, Paul Neberra, Susanne König, Stig Bergas and Tripper Dungan.

Honored to be part of this again! The exhibition is curated by Heiko Müller and Ralf Krüger.

Even though it is tricky times you should visit the gallery - it is open Thursday – Saturday 12 – 7 pm, and aditionally December 21 - 23 from 12 – 6 pm (or get in touch). You can also check out more information and images through the website of the gallery and download a pdf with the exhibited artwork here (7,3 mb PDF).

Installed group of my five woodcuts at Feinkunst Krüger.

The Great Outdoors

A rather lighthearted series of three (individual) woodcuts, “The Great Outdoors” shows my deep respect for nature and wildlife as well as my desire to travel the countryside and enjoy nature’s wonders. Relaxing in in front of a crackling campfire with a few beers, a guitar and my family or my best friends is probably the closest I will ever get to so-called ‘Wellness’-activities.

These woodcuts are the outlook you have from the edge of a forest. However, these works are not just postcard images. The added warnings, albeit in an aesthetically freely interpreted version, are reminiscent of the various safety information signs in a National Park. Here, they are comments on current social behaviour … which I guess I won’t have to elaborate any further on. I am sure you’ll get the idea.

More detail images below.

These three works can be seen at "Don't Wake Daddy X". An international Group exhibition, curated bei Heiko Müller & Ralf Krüger, opening December 5 at Feinkunst Krüger Gallery in Hamburg.

Artists: Van Arno, atak, Anthony Ausgang, Dan Barry, Jana Brike, Chris Buzelli, John Casey, Victor Castillo, Paul Chatem, Brendan Danielsson, Danielle de Picciotto, Alex Diamond, Mark Elliott, Charles Glaubitz, Benjamin Güdel, Thorsten Hasenkamm, Gregory Hergert, Ryan Heshka, Femke Hiemstra, Charlie Immer, Gregory Jacobsen, Boje Arndt Kiesiel, Susanne König, Craig LaRotonda, Elmar Lause, Sean Lewis, Jon MacNair, moki, Sergio Mora, Heiko Müller, Thorsten Passfeld, Anthony Pontius, Bene Rohlmann, Wolfgang Sangmeister, Marcus Schäfer, Allison Sommers, Fred Stonehouse, Marco Wagner.

New woodcuts: Animal Inside - Masked Hero #01 and #02

Artwork by Alex Diamond. Left: Animal Inside (Masked Hero #01: Gorilla), right: Animal Inside (Masked Hero #02: Elephant). Multi layered woodcuts, acrylic paint, resin, approximately 45 x 65 x 10 cm (2014) - click images for larger views.

These two new multi layered, sculptural woodcuts will be shown first at the international group show "Don't Wake Daddy IX", opening at Feinkunst Krüger in Hamburg on November 29 (through to December 20).

Curated by Heiko Müller and Ralf Krüger, "Don't Wake Daddy" enters its 9th year. Highfructose Magazin sums it up quite nicely: “Don’t Wake Daddy IX” is a large group show featuring 29 prominent artists influenced by the Low Brow and Pop Surrealism movements. The figurative work in the show largely borrows for pop culture and illustration, focusing on mysterious, bizarre, and often grotesque imagery."

I am very proud to be part of this very prestigious show again, this year alongside the amazing talents of Allison Sommers, Anthony Pontius, Bene Rohlmann, Boje Arndt Kiesiel, Brendan Danielsson, Brendan Monroe, Charlie Immer, Chris Buzelli, Dan Barry, Elmar Lause, Femke Hiemstra, Fred Stonehouse, Gregory Hergert, Heiko Müller, Jon MacNair, Lars Hinrichs, Marco Wagner, Marcus Schäfer, Mark Elliott, Moki, Paul Chatem, Rayk Amelang, Roman Klonek, Ryan Heshka, Scott D. Wilson, Sean Lewis and Susanne König.

More info: Galerie Feinkunst Krüger

Details of the artworks:

'RAGE' | WOODCUT, OCT 2013

Rage. (or: Don't wake Schacke)woodcut, acrylic paint, 30 x 40 x 3 cm (2013) — Rage. (or: Don't wake Schacke)
woodcut, acrylic paint, 30 x 40 x 3 cm (2013)

*UPDATE: This work was recently re-named to ,Don‘t wake Schacke‘, just my tribute to one of the finest guys in the universe.

After finishing the first woodcut involving The Incredible Hulk (read more), which was supposed to be a one-off created for the annual exhibition ,Don‘t Wake Daddy‘, the most prestigious international Low Brow-Gallery show in Germany at Feinkunst Krüger (Dec 2013), I got restless & hooked on the topic ... and went straight back to the studio to come up with this one. While the first work (,Don‘t get me started‘) is rather ,soft spoken‘ despite the anger represented in The Hulk, this one is rather wild and furious in every aspect of the painting.

The title of the work, as in most of my recent woodcuts, is written within one of the many background layers I start out with when prepping the foundation for this kind of paintings and, as usual, hard or impossible to read once the work is finalized. Here, I have been working with the contradiction and built-in frustration found in the stronghold that we believe we need to build around us in order to protect our true feelings (and furthermore to keep control over the incontrollable), which eventually leads to rage: ,How do you say FUCK OFF and I LOVE YOU in one painting?‘

The Hulk, however, has no ability to hold back his anger, and to (often falsely) control the feelings that ignite rage. Thus said, in this work he is most likely one of the rare possible artistic depictions of emotions as irritating as the title suggests.

Some more detail images from the work below, because unfortunately woodcuts are difficult to be shown properly in digital (or, for that matter, printed) form. At the end of the day, they are pretty haptic and can only be properly apprehended (and probably even appreciated) when confronted live and personal.

'Don't get me started' | woodcut, Oct 2013

Don‘t get me started. Wood carving, acrylic paint, wood, 40 x 30 x 3 cm (2013) © Alex Diamond — Don‘t get me started.
Wood carving, acrylic paint, wood, 40 x 30 x 3 cm (2013)
© Alex Diamond

This is the latest woodcut coming out of the studio, and most likely a pretty rare one regarding the depiction of a well known Superhero. A Superhero that‘s not really a hero at all times, and most definitely not from his own motivation, and the fact that anger triggers his transformation from nice guy to a huge and powerful menace made the Incredible Hulk become my all time favorite in the Marvel Universe. And yes, I do believe that he is the strongest of all Superhero‘s, and not Thor, as often claimed.

In this work, The Hulk stands for the rage and anger inside of us (me), that comes out when certain triggers are pulled. The interesting question will always be: to what result? What are the choices made in these situations? How much do we loose control? And can we create something positive from anger at all?

I am pretty sure this is something many of us can relate to. But it definitely is a very personal and „autobiographic“ work.

Note: The inspiration for the depiction of Hulk came from Gabriel Hardman, a very famous and amazing comic artist who‘s been drawing this character for many years. His images simply stood out when I was researching the Hulk for reference material.