AARON ROSE
artist, writer, musician, film director, independent curator, photographer & publisher – Los Angeles
Born in Portland in 1969, Aaron Rose has to be praised as one of the cornerstones of the contemporary art movement who doesn’t get tired of working multidisciplinary and being in uncharted water. An artist, writer, musician, film director, independent curator, photographer and publisher who is currently based in Los Angeles, Aaron Rose is a true multi talent: In the 1990’s he founded the influential Alleged Gallery in New York and at the same time he worked as a producer and director for MTV Networks, collaborating with then budding directors Mike Mills, Spike Jonze and Harmony Korine among others. After 10 years he bowed out of his responsibility for Alleged Gallery in 2002 to continue working as an independent curator. At Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA) Aaron Rose co-curated the large-scale “Art In The Streets” exhibition in cooperation with Roger Gastman and Jeffrey Deitch in 2011. Also, Rose is signed as a director with the Los Angeles company The Directors Bureau which also represents Wes Anderson, Mike Mills, Roman and Sofia Coppola.
Above all, the majority of people will probably know his pop-folkloristic art works, his various films and shorts but most of all his world touring show “Beautiful Losers”, followed by an award-winning documentary of the same name in 2008. A semi-autobiographical piece about the pressures of being a young artist, the film and the tour introduce us to the loose artists’ collective that was close to Aaron Rose’s Alleged Gallery in the early 1990’s: illustrators, designers, photographers and filmmakers like IWISHUSUN ambassador Cheryl Dunn, Shepard Fairey, Aaron Rose himself, Barry McGee, Mike Mills, Ed Templeton, and Harmony Korine. Now being some of the icons of contemporary pop culture and urban influenced art, back then these creatives, often self-taught, worked outside the mainstream and were inspired by street style and the subcultures of punk, graffiti and hip hop, embracing a DIY aesthetic so they could „make something out of nothing“ – just as Rose puts: “The avant-garde today is the establishment of tomorrow. There’s now wax around it.”
We appreciate Aaron Rose’s work ever since and therefore we are very happy to introduce the inspiring creative chameleon and self-declared beautiful loser to you via this interview. A very warm welcome!
If you happen to be in Berlin in September or in October, don’t miss his „Cults“ show at Circle Culture Gallery. Read more about this solo exhibition here.
What is more important to you, the sense of taste or sight? Why?
Sight is infinitely more important to me! I’m an artist not a chef. In fact I can’t cook anything! Not even pasta! I use my eyes for every single thing I do. I’m addicted to beauty, visual beauty. I love color. I love shape. My personal experience of the world is very connected to my seeing.
You are a creative person. What is your vision for your personal work?
Like most artists, I long for a connection to other people. I’m a storyteller. I believe that is why I work across so many different mediums. There are so many ways to tell stories! Even if those stories are my own, I hope that people will see something of themselves in my work. I want to tell the story of out times. I believe that is the artist’s job.
A few years ago you decided to stop complaining about schools and founded your own school, called “Make something,” that offers creative workshops for children and involves a lot of artists of your past “Beautiful Losers” show and film. Is this school your sequel to these?
Ironically, I started Make Something!! because I absolutely hated school. Especially art school. After art school I was unable to be creative for almost five years. It killed the joy of creation in me. Everything became very regimented, considered. I believe art should be free! For years I complained about this, until one day I got sick of listening to myself and just said, “Aaron, why don’t you change it?” So I wouldn’t say that Make Something!! is a sequel to anything, it’s just an extension. I would never want a young artists to have to go through what I did as the result of education.
Are children “better” artists?
I wouldn’t say that children are better artists than adults, they just haven’t been closed up yet. They don’t over analyse their work. That’s a good lesson.
What is your utmost concern in art?
Connection. If art doesn’t connect with an audience it is not serving its function in society. I worry about this the most in my own work.
Pieces of luggage are often part of your artistic work. Are you a passionate traveller or can it be seen as your personal interpretation of street art characteristics?
I love the dimensionality of three dimensional objects. There is something fantastic about having five different panels intersect the way they do on a suitcase. Plus, I like the idea of recycling, and also pushing art off the idea of it just being a standard square canvas on the wall. Of course, they also have so much meaning in terms of movement, travel, relationships. There are so many personal histories in each piece of luggage. Whose was it? Where did they take it before I acquired it? Who were they with? I can feel the energy in the cases. It’s funny though, for my newer works, I’ve decided to go back to painting on canvas. I guess life just runs in circles. There’s no way around it. I still love suitcases though!
In an interview with Gestalten.tv you claimed that you are addicted to make things and your steady multidisciplinary work proves it true. So you already made a lot of things but what has still to be done?
If I stopped having ideas today, I would still have enough in reserve to last me my entire life! I would of course love to develop more in the crafts I already practice, but also try new things. I’ve been thinking about starting a memoir, and also about choreography. I love dance and I have some interesting ideas for dance performances.
In 2008 The Selby visited you at home and asked you to tell him why collaboration is better than competition. Four years ago you answered: “Being friends with people is just way better than not.” That is how we all wish the world would be like, but is this possible in real life?
I actually still believe the same thing! I think it is possible. So much of it depends on how honest you are able to be with yourself. In every altercation I’ve ever had with another human being, I have always had some part in it. Most disputes can be settled over a cup of coffee!!! Nobody wants to carry the energy around from a grudge.
What is your tactic for making the world a better place?
I don’t expect grand gestures from life. I just try to do lots of little things that help make people’s lives better in small ways. Maybe at the end of the day they’ll all add up to some sort of positive influence on the planet?
When was the last time you gave back and what did you do?
I do this all the time, but I don’t consider it giving back. It’s just the way I believe I should live! I do things for people every week. Sometimes these are small things, like introducing someone to another person that might be able to help them. Some times I work with established charities. Usually I just try to give support to people who I believe are trying to make the world a better place. This could come from anywhere! Sometimes it’s about doing some artwork or a film for an organization that’s doing great things, sometimes it’s just making sure I buy my lunch from an independent restaurant and not a large corporation. There are many ways to give back.
What is the most beautiful thing you ever saw?
My wife on our wedding day.
What would you like to see more often?
I would like to see creativity become more a part of the fabric of our human experience, not just something we consume for entertainment.
What is your picture for IWISHUSUN?
The gift of sight has made me the person and the artist I am today. If there is anyway that someone can contribute to helping another person experience the beauty and wonder of this life experience then I completely stand behind it!! It’s important work.
Photo: Jen Siska.
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On the occasion of Jaybo Monk’s “Paper Tears” show at Los Angeles-based Soze Gallery Kristin Bauer, editor of Beautiful/Decay, met the artist and friend of IWISHUSUN for an interview to discuss his new body of work, how it relates to poetry and what comes next.
One of his upcoming projects concerns us as well and we are very excited to read Jaybo’s announcement:
“. . . I am working on a project for IWISHUSUN, a new platform for charity, called BLIND MEMORIES, where after a time of observation I will try to interpret the portrait of the observed person in complete darkness. Those originals will be available to purchase and the money will help unfortunate cataract victims with a chirurgical intervention.”
Read the entire interview on Beautiful/Decay Art & Design.
Also, we met Jaybo and Soze Gallery founder and director Toowee Kao for interviews – don’t miss to check them out!
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TOOWEE KAO
art consultant & art dealer, owner & director of Soze Gallery – Los Angeles
Toowee Kao is a gallerist and private art dealer who represents two of our ambassadors at her Los Angeles-based Soze Gallery: Jaybo Monk and Augustine Kofie. But also for all the other young contemporary artists who are entrusted in her care Toowee Kao is an essential supporter since she is not only a natural talent when it comes to art business but also aims to make being an artist a little less hard in every way and offers an artist residency in downtown Los Angeles for Sozes Gallery’s international artists. In short: Toowee Kao has got her eyes on the future of art and never stops impressing us with her power; she supports young contemporary artists in their creative pursuit of success and happiness.
Alongside her commitment to Soze Gallery and Soze Residency, Toowee Kao runs Time To Shine Gallery and CAMP2E. Time To Shine Gallery is not only home to CAMP2E but also a project concept space and gallery which offers local Los Angeles-based artists a work and exhibition space as well as give them “opportunities to shine.” Whereas CAMP2E is dedicated to the little ones. The art camp for kids brings together less fortunate, inner city children and artists featured in Soze Gallery to help them to get into art – it’s “a fun space to explore, experience, and create new works of art” that relies on Toowee Kao’s belief that giving these children a chance to get creative will allow them to build a better future for themselves.For us Toowee Kao is a kindred-spirit who has supported IWISHUSUN by purchases but also by her strong belief in our vision. Thank you, Toowee, and a very warm welcome!
You are a creative person, what is your vision for your personal work?
I see my creativity at work in all aspects of my life, whether it is business or public, non-profit outreach. My vision would be allowing my creativity to influence the kids of our future to be independent, fearless, create, and have the freedom to whatever they want. The possibilities are endless. They just need to know that its possible. Continue taking risks and working with great artists who continuously push the envelope with their work.
You put a lot of effort into participation and a vivid interaction between Los Angeles residents and your artists. Time to Shine Gallery and Soze Residency are only two examples out of many different activities. What is the best experience that resulted from your endeavor?
The best experience resulting from what I have organized in my career is being able to see the artists I love make a difference in the lives of children in the area who would originally have no access to art materials nonetheless one-on-one experiences with, in my opinion, some of the most influential Los Angeles artists today.
When was the last time you gave back and what did you do? Can the above mentioned offers be understood as your personal definition of giving back or charity?
Yes, I believe that CAMP2E, amongst other endeavors, is giving back to the community in a very important and unique way. Offering art education and an outlet for children and young adults to express themselves in a safe and encouraging environment and seeing them receive the praise they deserve is one of the most important things a person in the art world can do to give back.
What is your tactic for making the world a better place?
My tactic? Anyone who wants to see the world become a better place needs to just persevere. I do not know if I can describe it as a tactic, but I approach social and global improvement as continuing to work for what I love and resolving the issues I hope to resolve. If you continue doing that, your ethics, horizons, and impact expand organically. I guess my tactic is letting my consciousness naturally evolve, it’s a ‘tactic’ I would recommend.
You live and work in Los Angeles, a city of sun. What impact do the city, the environment, and the people have on your own creative work? And how do they influence the work of the artists who had been invited to Soze Residency to date?
The geography of this city, I believe, inevitably prompts one to think in an expansive manner. This is what influences my concept of art being something greater, if not boundless. I believe the artists who have come through my residency are influenced similarly. Most of them have never extensively explored LA. When at the residency, they are able to do so and it is impossible for this environment to not influence or even infiltrate their work.
What is the most beautiful thing you ever saw?
It was a two dimensional work of art that only I know that changed the way I saw art and propagated my love for art and a passion for what art is capable of.
What would you like to see more often?
New works of art that moves me, I would like to see more people striving to make social impact through their work or through their own means. Most of us have the ability to use our creative practices to educate and motivate, and that’s something I would like to see more people take advantage of.
Being a gallery owner is serious business. Your personal opinion: what makes a work of art valuable and meaningful?
Its ability to make you feel something. Its ability to make you see something differently, get lost within it, and exit with an experience or a shift in thinking. Whether or not this shift is transient is inconsequential, the fact that a work of art prompted it makes it meaningful.
Who is your personal hero?
My mother.
Sunrise or sunset, which do you prefer?
Sunset.
What is your picture for IWISHUSUN?
I picture IWISHUSUN working towards the things I find important and that I can align with my personal philosophy of creativity as a driving force in social change. I picture IWISHUSUN joining the movement of artists and creative organizations that hope to improve the world around us.
“My work is a journey into the bits and pieces of my memories. I am working with the methodic of chance, which means, I let things happen without trying to get any meaning into them. I neither know in advance what it is meant to look like nor during the process what I am aiming at and what to do about getting there.” Jaybo Monk who has been indispensable for IWISHUSUN’s formation has dedicated his work and origination process to spontaneity, to the single moment itself that will define the eventual outcome. What seems to start as a sequence of coincidences turns out to a coherent piece. If you are in Los Angeles, you can check out the latest outcomes of his artistic method: Soze Gallery currently presents a new series of Jaybo Monk’s paper works, called “Paper Tears.”
Jaybo continues: “Drawing is a blind, beautiful and desperate effort to be surrounded by the incomprehensible In this particular pieces, I try to keep influence playing with me during a travel to Portugal to see how it will affect the work. I started all pieces in Berlin, let them evolve in Portugal, than finishing them in Berlin. Some of the title has been selected before the drawings, some after.”
See more of Jaybo’s paper works here.
Jaybo Monk: ”Paper Tears”, 10 August – 10 September 2013, Soze Gallery, Los Angeles.
Photos: Soze Gallery.
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Katharina Riess
oenologist, founder of friends of truths network and brand expert – Venice Beach
Katharina Riess used to be a successful PR consultant, but when she realised that she had lost her connection to a more fundamental way of life, she started to reclaim the things in life that are important to her: her friends, art, the small beautiful things around – and began to (re)unite the former in one meaningful network. “Friends of Truths” was born. Two years later, the 36-years-old who now lives in California and is a trained oenologist is completely committed to her world of “truthfulness.”
“Friends of Truths“ network’s first product plays on words: we are talking about wine “because wine is synonymous with truth, ‘in vino veritas’, enjoyment, ‘a treat for the taste buds’, sustainability, ‘eco-conscious production’ and passion, ‘to produce a good wine some skill and dedication is necessary’.” Their two biodynamic wines (Pinot Noir Rosé 2010 Baden: “Liebe Eisgekuehlt” and Pinot Grigio 2010 Baden: “Stiller Stolz Lauter Dank”) comply with the organic DEMETER product guidelines. Situated in the gently sloped landscape of the narrow foothill regions that stretch for only a few kilometres between the Upper Rhine Rift lowlands and the Black Forest, the grapes are cultivated in the loamy soil according to biodynamic principles.
Katharina Riess exemplifies a life close to nature and at the same time full of culinary joy and in close relationships with people who not only share her love for good products but are also her close friends and confidantes. We are glad to have found a supporter in Katharina – a very warm welcome!
What is more important to you, the sense of taste or sight?
For me in person, taste of course. Because taste play’s a big roll in my personal and professional life, I often imagine the taste (the combination of flavours and aromas) in my mind before even ordering a drink or preparing a meal. We all have our individual tastes. We know what we like or don’t like, influenced by all our personal experiences shaped through our parents, culture, the place we live, or by industry.
You are a creative person. What is your vision for your personal work?
Finding the freedom to live as true to myself as possible and holding the space for all others around me to be true to themselves too.
In 2010 you founded “Friends Of Truths” as a network of friends who try to achieve a “better understanding of some things in our often rather strange world” whilst focusing on food and wine. Can you tell us more about Friends of Truths’ aim and work?
We like to explore and we are interested in gaining a deeper understanding. This is why we ask questions. We ask questions of ourselves and one another. From time to time it’s important to reflect on our habits and getting to know why we choose what we eat or drink. Is it because someone told us we have to do it? Or is it of your own free will? Or: why are we buying certain things? Is it better to know who or what is behind the product? We like to find out, getting to know the people, the production methods they use and the philosophy behind the product. That’s why we like to host dinners and tastings around the world to exchange knowledge and celebrate well-crafted products.
On your website you emphasise that you are “interested in every exchange, every impulse, every creative idea with the goal of discovering the true and beautiful things in life and thus adding meaningfulness to the world.” When and how did you start to put as much emphasis on social and creative engagement as you do now?
I think it all started in my childhood, growing up as close as possible to nature and then becoming a winemaker. From then on I was able to combine my fascination with flavours and aromas with my interest in science and my love of the rural life. Later, of course, after realising I had lost my connection to a more basic way of life, things like my yoga mat, books, art and friends caught my attention and helped me to see all the small beautiful things that surround me again.
When was the last time you gave back and what did you do?
I try to give back as often as I can. Also simple things, like returning a smile to someone on the street.
What is the most beautiful thing you ever saw?
Nature itself!
What would you like to see more often?
Happy people!
Sunrise or sunset – what do you prefer?
Sunrise because I like to be up as early as possible to explore the quietness of the morning. Unfortunately it doesn’t happen as often as I’d like because I’m not perfect, but I am working on improving myself day by day.
It’s summer and for most of us, the change of seasons also involves a change in our culinary preferences. What is your perfect summer dinner?
Grilled peaches with burrata.
serves 4
2-4 ripe peaches
burrata
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
sea salt
Slice peaches in half, remove the pits, and grill them (until the top of the peach is turning golden), scoop a small handful of burrata onto the top of the peach and drizzle olive oil, balsamic vinegar and sea salt over the peach and burrata. Serve immediately (tastes best when the peaches are still warm!).
Perfect of course accompanied by a glass of Wahrheit “Liebe Eisgekuehlt” Pinot Noir Rose!
Who is your personal hero?
I think I have a lot of heroes in my life.
What is your taste for IWISHUSUN?
Spicy.
Detail: Jessica Comingore, LA in BW.
When thinking of Los Angeles images of Hollywood, of glamour but also of a vibrant creative scene come into mind. But a closer look at the City of Angels alters the first impression as Jessica Comingore‘s photos visualise: In her series, “LA in BW” the designer and photographer captures the quieter, reflective side of Los Angeles, through the eyes of a true Angeleno. The resulting monochrome pictures get us to reassess our stereotyped idea of Los Angeles which now is replaced by Jessica Comingore’s calm perspective.
The photographer who among other clients works for Freunde von Freunden has been featured at AssemblePapers.com.au and told them
It sort of started as a bit of an accident when I stumbled upon the most beautiful bougainvillea spilling over a concrete wall on a lunch break in Echo Park. I had my camera with me and decided to snap a photo. When I came home to edit it, I found that I had left my settings on black and white, and didn’t capture the bright fuchsia hue I had intended at all. But rather, I saw this sculptural contrast of the soft petals against an urban backdrop. I was pleasantly surprised and made a point of bringing my camera along on every mundane drive about town to capture these little moments, but also spoke to the diverse landscape of this sprawling city. Though I had passed by these locations so many times over the years, I felt like I was seeing them with a completely new perspective.
Find the entire series here.
Photos: Jessica Comingore.
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