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Images from THE exhibition #PEEK at heliumcowboy

View from the group exhibition #PEEK at heliumcowboy in Hamburg.

View from the group exhibition #PEEK at heliumcowboy in Hamburg.

Images from the exhibition and the vernissage of #PEEK, an international group show taking place at the heliumcowboy gallery until end of May 2015, can be found online here. The show features the amazing talents of ADAMEVA, Julia Benz, Victor Castillo, Jo Fischer, Boris Hoppek, Elmar Lause and David Shillinglaw and should not be missed if you are in Hamburg. Head over to heliumcowboy.com for visiting times and a lot more images from the opening!

Vernissage photos by Tamara Gries

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AHAB!

Alex Diamond: "AHAB!", 200 x 180 x 15 cm, acrylic paint and woodcut on wood. Created on location at the Mercedes me Store in Hamburg, December 2014. 

This is a very special work I have created during December last year live on location at the #heliumcowboytakeover of the Mercedes me Store in Hamburg (read all about this very special art project here).

It's a large painting AND woodcut on a very well crafted lightweight wooden box that was built specifically for this project. The box consists of 2 individual pieces that can be displayed together as a stand alone block (measuring 200 x 180 x 30 cm) or individually as separate hanging wall pieces. During the final week of the #heliumcowboytakeover, fellow artist Elmar Lause painted one side while I was working on the other one. Below are images from the process as well as some details of the work.

My piece is called "AHAB!", and yes, that is a Moby Dick reference combined with a warrior theme, roots growing out of a tree leg and a carved Manga style eye on what appears to be a sheep. I am happy to talk about this work with you over a coffee or drink some time. My shrink may have to be present though ;) 

If you are interested in the work, together or individual, please contact me. The box with both artworks is currently displayed at the heliumcowboy artspace, if you are in Hamburg, please arrange for an appointment with the gallery to check it out.


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:

 

New woodcuts 2014 | from 'Weapons Of Mass Seduction'

Here are some of the the brand new woodcuts from my joint exhibition 'Weapons Of Mass Seduction' with fellow artist Victor Castillo in Hamburg, September 13–27, 2014.

I have added a special resin to my work materials I am using in my woodcutting, next to the blades and acrylic paint.  

If you are interested in available artworks, please contact sales@heliumcowboy.com

Name one thing in this world that is not negotiable

Alex Diamond: Name one thing in this world that is not negotiable.
Woodcut, acrylic paint, resin, 50 x 70 x 3cm (2014)

I've been at peace with that for a very long time

Alex Diamond: I‘ve been at peace with that for a very long time.
Woodcut, acrylic paint, resin, 50 x 70 x 3cm (2014)

Just gotta look a man in his eyes. It's all there.

Alex Diamond: Just gotta look a man in his eyes. It‘s all there.
Woodcut, acrylic paint, resin, 50 x 70 x 3cm (2014)

Black Hole Sun I & II

Alex Diamond: Black Hole Sun I
Woodcut, acrylic paint, resin, 40 x 40 x 3 cm (2014)

Alex Diamond: Black Hole Sun II
Woodcut, acrylic paint, resin, 30 x 40 x 3 cm (2014)

Sept 13: Weapons of Mass Seduction | Exhibition with Victor Castillo

I am very happy to announce my upcoming exhibition WEAPONS OF MASS SEDUCTION at heliumcowboy, featuring the first team-up show with Victor Castillo.

This exhibition opens September 13, 7 - 11 pm, at a temporary space in the beautifully restored Holstenhof (right around the corner from the heliumcowboy gallery space).

Exhibition runs from September 13 - 27, 2014, the opening hours during the exhibition will be announced soon.

Additionally, heliumcowboy partners with Reeperbahn Festival and will hold another public reception on Wednesday, September 17, from 7 - 11 pm.

Here's the link to the facebook event, and here's some more information:

“‘Weapons Of Mass Seduction’ is the title of the first joint exhibition of Victor Castillo and Alex Diamond (aka Jörg Heikhaus). When the two first met in 2006, Heikhaus, the founder of heliumcowboy, started to represent Victor with his gallery exclusively in Germany.

But their relationship grew larger than that, and became a friendship, and so they started developing a concept for a joint exhibition. The idea took shape when they discovered that they both share the same orientation of their artistic content: Even if they use different materials and styles to express their art (painting/Victor Castillo vs. woodcuts/Alex Diamond), they both understand themselves as visual storyteller in a pop cultural world. One very important element in both their work is the topic of seduction, their artwork deciphering the perceptual overload in everyday life. This way they uncover the seduction everyone is exposed to daily through media, social events and politics. The title of the exhibition is a direct reference to this shared approach.

’Weapons Of Mass Seduction’ is the first exhibition which gets together these two artists. The concept is developed between Los Angeles and Hamburg, the cities where Castillo and Diamond live. In order to emphasize the specific characteristic of this joint exhibition, “Weapons Of Mass Seduction“ is not shown in the space of heliumcowboy, but in an amazing location around the corner: a brand new store in the Holstenhof , a freshly renovated Art Nouveau building (Kaiser-Wilhelm-Straße 79-87, thanks to the kind support of ALSTRIA Office REIT AG).”
— heliumcowboy.com

These are some of the brand new works Victor and I will be showing:

Victor Castillo: Smoke in the Shadows, Acrylic on canvas, 86 x 76 cm (2014)

Alex Diamond: I've been at peace with that for a very long time, Acrylic, Resin, Woodcut, 50 x 70 x 3 cm (2014)


TARGET.PRACTICE | New woodcuts for MILLERNTOR GALLERY

I have created two new woodcuts, to be shown at MILLERNTOR GALLERY #04, opening Thursday, May 29. MILLERNTOR GALLERY is a social art gallery, organized by Viva con Agua de Sankt Pauli and the football club FC St. Pauli and is held annually at the Millerntor Stadium in Hamburg.

In 2012, I took part in this great project for the first time as an artist, installing the large wooden installation "WIPE OUT". For last years' MILLERNTOR GALLERY #03, instead of showing my own work I was running the arts programme as artistic director with my gallery heliumcowboy. In 2014, I passed the torch on, and instead of managing all artist and exhibition related activities and processes, returned with my artwork. These two, called TARGET.PRACTICE #1 & #2, to be precise. They were created in the weeks before the opening and were made specifically for the show, partly because they are interactive pieces ... (see below). 

Please visit the website of the MILLERNTOR GALLERY and see the full program from May 29 - 31.

TARGET.PRACTICE #01 | woodcut, acrylic paint, mirror;  78 x 62 x 3 cm (2014)

TARGET.PRACTICE #02 | woodcut, acrylic paint, mirror;  74 x 62 x 3 cm (2014)

Here are some more images from those works. You may get the idea of why I was using a mirror in these instead of an intricate inner woodcut in the second layer ...  (hint: #selfie)

You were born inside my heart | woodcut, Dec 2013

You were born inside my heart
(3-dimensional) woodcut, acrylic paint, 90 x 80 x 10 cm (2013)

This is a pretty new direction within my woodcuts: it‘s going three dimensional ... adding depth through installing several layers of cut out and carved wood on top of each others.

,You were born inside my heart‘, a 90 x 80 x 10 cm large, three-layer-woodcut was created just in time for Jim Avignon‘s group exhibition „Happy hour at the Hypnotist“ opening December 7, 2013, at the legendary NEUROTITAN in Berlin-Mitte.

If you can't make it to Berlin, it may be available here.