Studio Visit with Kottie Paloma.
I met with Kottie in his studio in Kreuzberg, the now distinguished artists neighborhood of Berlin. At least that’s where I seem to be meeting everyone these days. Last time I had seen Kottie’s work in person was at the group exhibition Panopti(con) at BANK in Los Angeles. I remember cracking up on the book and the accompanied soundtrack he had on display. When we arranged to see each other, I admittedly did a quick google search and came across these two works: 2-Pac & Biggie (West Coast)!, 2007 and its evil twin-counterpart, 2-Pac & Biggie (East Coast)!, 2007 which made me uncontrollably laugh. It felt good to see work that was not taking itself too seriously, while engaging in a clear critic of the social patterns within the American culture. Even though Kottie told me later on that these drawings were hung in the backroom of New Image Art for less than a month, instead of the six months they were on consignment for, I think that I caught a glimpse of them at the gallery one day.
Kottie was born in 1974 in Los Angeles and was raised in Huntington Beach. In 1996 he moved to San Francisco. He is now based in Berlin. His work covers an array of mediums, from books, drawings, paintings, photography, and soft sculptures/installations.
For more images of his work, check his gallery Brooklyn artists alliance, and his MySpace here and here.
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Book, Ex Girlfriends Make The Best Girlfriends, 2009 which was recently included in the exhibition Schöne neue Welt at Bongout Gallery in Berlin. [Check also this broadcast of Kottie's book #3, The Immense Complexities of Love, 2:19 min. Available at KQED's Arts Archives.]
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Photographs from the series Strands of Culture, 2006, 16 x 20 inches. This whole series started with Kottie asking strangers and passerbys to have their photo taken in a San Francisco street photo booth. These shots are painted over then blown up to the 16 x 20 inches format.
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Two drawings from the series, Daily Portraits of “Strangers”, 2007, Pencil on paper, 5 x 6 inches. Kottie had a solo show at Fecal Face Dot Gallery last year with this series. Check shots of the installation in progress here.
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Works in progress from the Porn Shoot series, 2009.
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