Her ‘Engagement’ installation at London’s Steven Friedman Gallery in 2011 featured a life-sized figure of Prince William on a pedestal, allowing visitors to pose with him while slipping a finger into a replica of Kate Middleton’s engagement ring. This not only fulfilled every woman’s fantasy of marrying the Prince, but was another stepping stone in Rubell’s career, dramatically increasing awareness of her work in the European media and art world.

The artwork Rubell creates could be labelled participatory. It is a kind of hybrid of different art forms linked to the movement of relational aesthetics. Jennifer Rubell is the daughter of famous collectors Mera and Don Rubell and the niece of Steve Rubell, a coowner of Studio 54. Prior to her upcoming project at the Fondation Beyeler near Basel in Switzerland, I sat down with Jennifer to talk art.

Andreas Kuefer: Jennifer, your next project will take you to the Fondation Beyeler. How excited are you?

Jennifer Rubell: The Fondation Beyeler is one of the most extraordinary places in the world to view art, and it’s a tremendous honour to do a project there. When I was asked to do the show, the first thing I wanted to do was to learn more about the foundation and Mr. Beyeler. I read the wonderful book of interviews with him by Christophe Mory, and I spent a lot of time in the foundation and its surrounding landscape. It is one of the most unique qualities of this museum – its deliberate engagement with its natural surroundings – and that quality became my focus as I began to put together preliminary ideas for the show.

You have a Harvard degree in art history and your previous work frequently made references to art history. At the Fondation Beyeler your show will run parallel to the Louise Bourgeois retrospective, one of the most influential artists of our time. Has Louise Bourgeois been an inspiration to you and can we expect to see a Bourgeois reference in your project at the foundation?

Louise Bourgeois forged a path for the female artist, so every female artist follows her to a certain extent and is inspired by her achievements. There is no specific
reference to Bourgeois in my Beyeler project or, as a matter of fact, to any other artist. It is mainly the museum itself that inspired me.

But art history has obviously been an influence in your work overall?

The influence is tremendous. Art history is a huge inspiration. Not only in the form of specific works or artists, but as a whole. It is my motivation to leave my mark on the timeline of art history. I’m interested in the past and at the same time in the future. On the other hand, art history is very intimidating to me. I met and worked for various artists and I experienced their legacy as a burden. Their greatness was a nearly insurmountable obstacle to me. I found my way around it (or more precisely through it) by systematically using my work to destroy theirs. The destruction of the chocolate Jeff Koons rabbits, for instance, is a prime example of me clearing the path for what lies ahead.

With very few exceptions, any exhibition you visit at the Fondation Beyeler or most other museums is all about not physically engaging with the work. We know that your work aims to achieve the complete opposite. Would it be correct to say that interaction is at the core of your work?

Yes. Interaction is the frame around my work. It is essential to everything I do. If I have an idea for a piece that lacks the interactive aspect, I won’t do it. I have no studio background. I come from a different angle. I don’t feel it’s legitimate for me to produce something, an object, that exists only to be looked at. It doesn’t fit with my background. Interactive art does.

In a recent article, Vanity Fair promoted you from ‘caterer’ to ‘food artist’. I agree that food is a large part of your artistic ‘voice’ but as we saw with the ‘Engagement’ work
you’re not limited to that genre. Are you happy with your title?

There’s not really much of a choice is there? I’m aware of that title and for a while I wanted to evade it. I even refused to do anything that involved food. But I got over it. It probably helps people to understand what I do and as long as I have the freedom to do what I want in the context of art institutions, I’m perfectly happy.

But food is and will always remain a very important part of your work?

Of course, a very large part of what I do involves food. It is constantly present. It is a very important medium for me to achieve what I set out to do. At times, art can be very exclusive and inaccessible. People tend to be intimidated by art, and they can’t find a way to interact. Often certain knowledge is required of the viewer to know when and how they’re allowed to do so. Food eliminates this intimidation. People feel safe interacting with food, as it’s something they do on a daily basis. It is their way into the art world and my means of creating prompts to interaction. The fact that there’s always a certain humour involved in what I do, helps as well. However, at this point I am doing a very limited number of projects that exist inside a gala context. Unless the perfect opportunity with the perfect partner presents itself, I don’t do it. The Fondation Beyeler is one of those perfect opportunities.

You grew up in a family where art was a dinner table topic and you studied art history. Why did it take you so long to begin your career as an artist? Shall we blame your love for food or did you just enjoy flying under the radar for as long as possible?

I was terrified of becoming an artist. I knew what good art was and I knew that I didn’t have the tools to create myself what I had come to appreciate and admire from others. Eventually I discovered relational aesthetics and that became my passport, my entry ticket to the world of not only viewing but creating art. I had found a theory and reference to which I could relate. Before that, there was nobody really out there I could follow. When you’re young you need this guidance. I get contacted by students all the time, who want to visit me in my studio and talk about what I do, what they do. It’s part of the process of finding your own voice and sometimes, as in my case, when you don’t have someone whose footsteps you are directly following, that process can take a bit longer.

You must have felt some pressure and probably experienced some envy due to the fact that your parents are THE Rubells? After all, there aren’t many children of major collectors being accepted as artists. Purely on this basis, do you view your parents as a blessing or a burden?

Despite the fact that they weren’t really THE Rubells back then, obviously both! Without them, my path to becoming an artist might have been shorter. Much like with art history I was very intimidated by their opinion and by their eventual judgement. To be honest I was terrified of being bad. While there are many children of artists who become artists, it is true that there aren’t many children of collectors that do so. I think this has to do with the way collectors – even the best ones – only ever really experience the finished work, and the artist at his most confident, in the very moment of validation. All that can be very intimidating. Had I seen some of the artists my parents collect sitting in their studios, biting their nails, staring at the walls with not a clue what to do next, totally uncertain about their future, I might have been less intimidated. On the other hand, I got to see behind the walls of art institutions and to experience at first hand how one was built, how the art market worked. I was able to see spaces, encounter people and experience moments that I could otherwise never have even known about. I have no idea what kind of art I would make if I were not the child of collectors – I’d have other psychological issues to work on!

You started out creating events at the Rubell Foundation. Being a host was something that came natural to you, being the niece of Steve Rubell (the co-owner of Studio 54) you were able to learn from the best. How much of what you did and do today can be ascribed to his influence?

Steve was a huge inspiration in my life. We were extremely close. What he achieved with Studio 54 in this short period of time (two and a half years) is something people still speak about in mythological terms. Studio 54 captured a moment perfectly – it was a kind of living performance piece – and even though I was a child at the time it had a lasting impact on me and continues to influence my work.

What do you consider to be your artistic breakthrough? When, from your perspective, did the caterer/event planner turn into an artist?

To make one thing clear, I never saw myself as a caterer or as an event planner. People started talking about me in this way once I had already become an artist.

You recently started creating more durable objects. Artwork that can actually be collected, like the ‘drinking paintings’. Is this something you will focus on increasingly in the future? To make art that is more lasting, more ‘collectible’?

80% of my upcoming projects consist of works that are durable. I enjoyed my ephemeral work and it was a process I had to go through. My first durable pieces, the drinking paintings, were actually never intended to be durable. At that time I still needed the space and the freedom to experiment. I was not ready for durable work and thought that if there is no lasting proof of what you do, people can’t really judge you, or will judge you less harshly because you are not really asking to be part of art history. But in retrospect, it feels depressing that all this work has vanished. I want to create something that lasts, something people can’t just hear about but experience first hand, so the accidental durability of the ‘drinking paintings’ ended up being a blessing. It was a major leap of faith for me to start producing work that would last. I didn’t feel I had any other choice – I couldn’t let fear block the natural evolution of my work.

Read the full Interview in the magazine “Class of its Own”.

Aaron also runs an impressive array of blogs and tumblrs, sharing his sources of inspiration as well as giving the viewer an insight into his working process. A lot of his inspiration derives from the old masters. Besides the obvious, like Caravaggio, Aaron also regards Swiss painter Ferdinand Hodler as a major influence on his work, which of course gives him some extra credits in my “patriotic” book.

Aarons’ work is completely intuitive. He doesn’t draw on the canvas and I think he neither does much of a warm up dance. He “loads up his brush with paint” and lets the stroke guide him down an unpaved road, constantly adapting to what happens on the journey.

Maybe that’s sometimes not the efficient way to paint… but the results surely speak for themselves.

Aaron is represented by dear Alix of Sloan Fine Arts in New York. I’m looking forward to seeing his latest works, presented at SCOPE Miami in a few weeks.

It was the beauty of her collage work that instantly caught my eye. Even though Selena is active in various genres of fine art, it is in my opinion that body of her work where she excels.

Her collage is based on archival documents, beautiful prints found in historic books which she cunningly cuts apart in order to reassemble and create her own interpretation of historical scenes or events. The craftsmanship of the original print, that special quality of aged paper and her skills of cutting and reassembling form a perfect union.

In her own voice:
“My work begins with archival documents (illustrated histories, books of popular science) and develops into imagined reckonings with the history they represent.

My recent work has been focused around constructing large-scale collages, made from small fragments of printed matter. Their scale and image is in dialogue, through gesture or mimicry, with the human body. The work appears as painted or inked surfaces from a distance and the work asserts its materiality, and the slow time and the labor of making, as the viewer approaches.

Up close the holes, the fingerprints, the artifacts of the printing process and fragments of recognizable photographs appear. It is this encounter with the materiality of the work that is part of my investigation – how it looks at a glance and what it reveals (how it falls apart) as the viewer gets closer to the work.”

A native of Maine, Selena Kimball earned her BFA in sculpture from The Rhode Island School of Design and her MFA from Hunter College. Kimball is adjunct faculty at Parsons The New School and Hunter College, CUNY. She lives and works in Brooklyn.

Selena  is represented by the kind people at Wolfstaedter in Frankfurt, Germany.

While Samorì‘s painting skills could easily compete with those of the old masters, it was the unique artistic violence he applied to his work, which was to earn him a spot at the Venice Biennale, as well as recognition and exhibitions all over Europe. Samorì overpaints, draws or scrapes what appears to you as a perfect baroque painting. He goes further and uses a scalpel to peel away layers of paint, granting you access to what lays beneath, offering you access to what usually remains hidden.

The results are stunning and it is the partial destruction, the skillful rearranging and re- composing, that turn his works into sought after contemporary masterpieces.

Nicola Samorì is currently residing in Berlin, working on his upcoming solo exhibition at Galerie Christian Ehrentraut. I recently had the chance to chat and conduct and interview with Nicola about his work:

AK: Removing layers, peeling of the surface and revealing what’s underneath is a big factor of your work. Why?

NS: I find that there are amazing correspondences between the skin and painting. The fact of lifting the paint film with a scalpel highlights this tautology. The inside of the paint always offers an image unknown, a surprising  side that much like skin, reveals a freshness and an intensity unknown in the outer tones.

Is this revealing of layers part of the reason why you work with different, sometimes unorthodox materials like copper plates for your canvas. How important is the canvas, the base layer, for your work?

Yes. It’s as essential as the muscle tissue to the skin, which I commonly associate with the painting. The level on which you anchor the color will transmit a lot of information: wood can be scraped smooth with agility; the copper can provide very intense vibrations of light; the canvas will allow stripping of layers neat or sometimes brutal.

Like with the Holbein painting you often reference art history. Would you say that one needs a knowledge of it in order to fully appreciate your work?

Yes, in order to fully appreciate it, one does. My work rarely comes from outside of art history and you need to know the grammar to form the sentence and to fully understand what the reasons are that define my actions. Otherwise the viewer tends to experience a feeling of loss, sees the work as dramatic, restless or old, which is substantially correct but might not always be completely satisfactory.

You paint, you scrape the canvas, you peel of layers, you overpaint… How do you know when the work is finished?

I do not know. The process can take months and every day something is lost in an attempt to enhance the image. However, I am able to read the weakness of my work. When I paint, something has to happen to the image, something serious, something heavy. When the form has been put in danger and tension is not lost, the piece may leave the studio.

The full Interview will be published in the inaugural issue of “a class of its own” this fall.

American born Arthur is the man behind quintessentia.com. A home furnishing website you’d expect to be based everywhere but in Zurich. For all of you out there who know, that the term “eclectic” was not only coined for music, Arthur provides the answer.

Everybody else… feel free to stay with your USM shelf….

I recently purchased some items from Mister Rooks… and that’s my only “eclectic complaint”; the service was impeccably Swiss, simply swift and hassle free. Almost boring… Keep it up Arthur!

Quintessentia is an online treasure trove not to be missed.

We’ve seen the warehouse turned loft, the bunker turned art museum, the garage turned art gallery… In my opinion Bofill has taken it one step further, turning a former cement factory into a multi purpose structure including his architectural office, exhibition space, apartment and more. An absolutely admirable use and reuse of space and structure.

“to be an architect means to understand space, to understand space organized by man, to decipher the spontaneous movements and behavior of people, and to detect the needs of change that they might unconsciously express. It is essential to track down these issues if we want to contribute with our personal work to the history of architecture.”

Well said and well achieved Mister Bofill.

PS: Did I mentioned he had completed this project in 1975.

Maxime was born in Paris and lives and works now in Rotterdam, NL. These and other works were recently included in the ”Found Footage” exhibition at Galerie Iris Cornelis, Rotterdam.

Andreas Kuefer is an art curator/dealer who lives in Basel, Switzerland. I met him at Art Basel Miami Beach. I was struck by his easy manner and dry sense of humor … not at all uptight like some art dealers. He’s also an art consultant and founder of QRATE www.qrate.net in addition to his own website. Anyway, after finding out that he’s from cool art city Basel, I decided that I had to chat with him.

Hey Andreas. Thanks for chatting with me. First off, you’re an art dealer who lives in Switzerland. Being an American, that sounds like a very glamorous life to me. Am I wrong?

It sounds glamorous to me as well until I find myself struggling on a concrete floor with an odd-shaped artwork, bubble-wrap and tape. Switzerland and especially my hometown of Basel have a long lasting history and (thanks to over 40 years of Art Basel) a strong position in the global art market. The business over here however is a lot less glamorous, or shall we say low profile, than in Miami or New York, where sometimes it feels like the after party and the guest list are more important than the art itself. And yes … you might have seen me at one or two of those parties.

Wow, your answer brings several more questions to mind. First, is Basel an art city where residents love art or is it more like a venue for the annual fair? Does art really factor into the lives of everyday people there?

I wouldn’t know if it factors into the lives of everyday people, but it definitely plays a big role in the cultural life and the social agenda of Basel all year round. The local art museums have great collections and reputations. Some of the world’s biggest collectors live here. Among them, Ernst and Hildy Beyeler (both now deceased), whose opening of Fondation Beyeler in 1982, was a major contribution to the Basel art scene. Over a period of fifty years, in parallel to their successful activity as gallery owners, Hildy and Ernst Beyeler built up an exceptional collection of works by modern masters. I would consider Fondation Beyeler among the top ten art museums worldwide. Let’s say it this way … Counting just about 200,000 inhabitants, Basel offers the art program of a global city.

Obviously, living in such a cultural city influenced your decision to become an art dealer. Still, you must have had other career options. Why did you choose to become an art dealer as opposed to a doctor, teacher or anything else? Could it be that you’re also a frustrated artist?

Aren’t we all? My career path took me from interior design to advertising to being a creative director for a new media agency to becoming an “art dealer.” So you’re probably right in the assumption that my trained eye, my fascination with the visual and my limited artistic skills were a big factor in me becoming first an art collector and now a dealer. One other major factor of motivation… growing up close to the “art industry” and being an entrepreneur for the last 10 years … was to explore new ways of selling art and mix up the classic art business a bit and yes … have some fun while doing that.

What does mixing up the classic art business mean to you? Does the classic art business need mixing up? How does this relate to what you and your business partners do?

Well, first of all, we are not your traditional brick and mortar art gallery. We chose art fairs and pop-up venues to organize group/solo shows and let’s call them art events. We consider us at QRATE www.qrate.net a group of curators and collectors rather than art dealers. We basically show what we collect ourselves with the intention to promote those artists rather than to make big bucks. The real mix up begins with our two projects VERSUS and SALON where we take the art out of the traditional gallery, museum or fair surroundings and make it accessible in new ways. In VERSUS for instance we let the art scene of two cities collide.

How many people are involved in QRATE and how did you guys come up with that name? I love the fact your primary intent is to promote artists, but don’t you have to make good money to stay in business?

There’s a small core group including an east coast and west-coast and two European representatives. I came up with the name a while back… playing with the term curate… which has become rather fashionable. The primary intent is to promote new and emerging talent with an emphasis on craftsmanship and original ideas. We don’t consider ourselves charitable though. All of our projects are financed through sales. Therefore, the artist or the artwork needs to sell. One of the advantages we do have though which gives us a certain kind of freedom … is that we all don’t need to make our living by selling art.

You have a cool website. Is it connected in any way to QRATE? What do you hope to achieve with it?

Thanks. www.andreaskuefer.com is my personal site, a reflection of myself and my finds. It started as a scrapbook. Based on the feedback I received from visitors, I continued and extended the site. People appear to like some of the posts … that’s more than I originally hoped to achieve with it. It’s not associated with QRATE.

When I last saw you, the world economy was very bad. I remember asking you at Art Chicago (I think) whether you felt things were getting better and you replied, “Well, we’re selling people things they don’t NEED.” Do you now feel the economy is getting better and do you really think people don’t NEED art?

It depends which economy we’re talking about. I do not want to make any predictions. If you read the secondary (art) market results you tend to believe that the market is stronger than ever. However, I do not believe that this is the case. I think the primary and especially the emerging art market is struggling. Regarding the NEED for art … Of course people need art … it might even qualify as a basic need. But do people need to OWN fine art (what my earlier statement was referring to)? Now there’s some serious doubt. Through the media, the growing number of public collections, art in public spaces and the increasing amount of art institutions… fine art has become very available. Maybe it’s time for the emerging art market to reinvent itself…

I totally agree. I think art should have the same impact on the public as professional sports. In some places it does and it’s very organized. However, I find that for the most part, most people in the art world operate in their own creative bubbles and don’t do much to organize which would help emerging artists and the overall market. What do you think?

It’s a thin line. Pro sports is probably best comparable to the blockbuster museum exhibitions that have become so popular as of late. This sure is helpful for the general awareness or as you called it, “impact on the public” of fine arts … but with very few exceptions it hardly ever contributes the emerging art scene. Of course the “pro level” is impressive! It’s a perfect business machine. The best have been picked by the best to perform for you. But I believe there’s much more to discover in the art world than those who have already gone through the “filtering” process and made it to the top. If the same team always wins, it gets kind of boring. QRATE and I are interested in creating new formats to show, promote and support the undiscovered.

Finally, what are your hopes for art in the future?

There are many things I hope for art or can picture for its future. In particular, I hope that the collector focus will get bored with and steer away from the secondary market … in order to once again embrace the emerging art world. They need and deserve the support. If QRATE or I can contribute to that in one way or another… goal achieved!

Definitely. Well, it was great talking with you.

Thanks Michael! Looking forward to seeing you again soon!

The first highlight was the recently extended MACRO… followed by a Sunday brunch and in depth visit of the Maxxi! It’s a beauty! The play of lights, lines and shape are almost overwhelming in the public areas… but take a step back and let the artwork dominate in the exhibition spaces…

It didn’t hurt the experience that we got to enjoy an exhibition containing over 100 works of Michelangelo Pistoletto. It was great the see such a large assembly of his mirror paintings… a form we saw having a strong comeback in recent art fairs.

So… if you look for an excuse to revisit Rome… Maxxi it is.