This begs the question, is it possible for an artist who hides his identity to make a film about himself without his actually appearing? “Exit Through The Gift Shop”, might answer those questions. Banksy made himself known (in the way he does) in Park City, Utah during the Sundance Film Festival, by showing his work on storefronts and walls. He called a tantalizing news conference at the International Film Festival in Berlin, only to play a videotape in which he appeared cloaked and hidden. Was the image in the video Banksy? Did he create the video?

The questions that arise about his identity are similar to those we must answer when we interact on the internet. Does identity reside in the corporeal being, or in the substance that being creates? Banksy and Adams (profiled earlier on Fabwick), raise these questions.

When it comes to the work, there are more answers than questions. The work, under any heading, is beautiful. It is up to the receiver of the art to live with the contradiction of such beauty being displayed in gritty urban environs. It is also up to the receiver to accept and enjoy the art without knowing (visually) who created it.

He grew up in the shadow of the wall (in the West). As a teenager, he was inspired by the art that was expressed on the wall and started to photograph it. His book Urban Art Photography captures some of his perspective and vision, but there’s so much more. For the last 20 years he’s walked the streets of Berlin and photographed what has inspired him. He still uses film to capture these images. He then marks his photographs by hand-numbering them. He said he is running a bit behind. He has about 35,000 more photographs to go through and mark.

Urban Art Info - Berlin, Mitte

Fabwick, AR.Parker (F)
Jurgen Grosse (J)

This interview/visit was translated by Manuela Mangold

F: Why do you document other artists?
J: I started to photograph the graffiti on the wall because I was interested in this art form – it was illegal, but fascinating.

F: Who’s your favorite artist?
J: This is a difficult question, but Keith Haring was an influence in the early days.

F: Do you not collect “indoor art”?
J: Yes I do. I have a lot, but now I put all my money into the Urban Art Studio.

F: I have a feeling that you support intensely creative artists who are also productive– who execute their ideas well, like Adams. Do you work with artists from Tacheles? Or is it a place of pretentious artists playing at art?
J: First when the wall came down I spent a lot of time at Tacheles, but later lost interest when I saw a decline. I had friends there who were creative, but the people I work with now, that come out of the graffiti scene and work on Brunnestrasse are intensely creative, and are fully aware that they don’t need drugs to be creative.

F: What art pieces of yours would you save in an emergency?
J: All. But I can’t save all, so I’d save all my negatives.

F: Now when the Adams auf Slussen exhibition is over, what’s next?
J: Swoon from New York – Starting Friday Sept 26th

Swoon coming to Urban Art Info

“There was only a thin wall separating the cell from the world outside. Through a narrow opening between the boards I could glimpse the busy streets, people hurrying past Slussen. I heard the sound of their footsteps on the sidewalk, fragments of conversations and the noise of cars and busses. From this hideaway I felt like an untouchable observer”.
Adams

Sluss means ‘sliding gate’ in Swedish. Slussen is a traffic hub in Stockholm where south meets north. This is where Adams, an extremely secretive conceptual artist, built an underground shed with a hatch in the floor that opened to the underground tunnel in Stockholm. This room was maintained for three years until the authorities closed it last year.

I have become quite obsessed with Adams and can’t stop thinking about his work and wondering what he’s working on now. In the past he has created spaces that are useful, i.e. a shelter in east Berlin, a wooden container for people to drop off things they no longer needed and for others to take them home, and the underground living room he and Itso built under the Central Station in Copenhagen.

I sat down with Jurgen Grosse, the owner of Urban Art Info in Mitte, Berlin. He is showing Slussen auf Adams until September 12th. During the conversation with Jurgen I asked more about Adams. I didn’t get any personal information other than Jurgen and Adams email each other. I thought – ok, all I know for sure is, he is Swedish and has email.

My goal is not to dig up a load of personal information about this private person, but I’m intrigued to come across an artist in disguise–especially when we live in times where people are screaming out for attention from every angle, from Facebook to reality shows on TV. I really don’t care if a friend on Facebook is reading the morning paper and eating cereal or if Jon despises Kate, but I adore secretive artist that are not only creative, but clever executors.

For more information visit http://www.urban-art.info/