Interview

Following the ten-piece limited series, artist Moritz Berg said down with us to talk about the collaboration, his process, and influences.

Our collaboration started via a DM on Instagram. What’s your general take on social media? Do you see it more as a gift or a curse?

Obviously it’s both. Depending on how much awareness you have on how it works it can be a gift or a curse. A gift because it’s great to have a platform free to use whereon people can display their work. Especially for emerging artists it’s great to have the opportunity being your own curator and the ability to reach out to so many people. A curse because the images posted on Instagram get this certain aesthetic based on the algorithm, which in turn can affect the way people display their work or even the artwork itself.

What interested you in the collaboration?

I thought about doing T-shirts for some time when you reached out me. Some happy coincidence. I had the feeling this collaboration might be interesting and enriching for both of us. Since I never teamed up with a fashion brand I was interested in working with some new medium.

What was it like create an artwork which is wearable? Did it have any influence on your process?

I kind of created the t-shirts in the same way I’m doing my paintings. Starting from trivia moments which I try to catch by sketches or by photographs and videos I’m doing with my phone. It’s then all about the transmission onto the specified medium.

How does it feel to have people actually wearing your art?

It’s nice to have people wearing my art or having my paintings at their space. But as soon as they leave my atelier they become these independent objects I cannot influence and I just think about them as things which hopefully stir people in some way.

You studied architecture and urban planning. When and why did you decide to switch to art?

I finished my master’s degree in architecture and urban planning in spring 2020. My interest in art as well as my very own creative activities coalesced more and more with my architectural studies over time. There was no certain moment on-which I chose art, it just felt right to me to focus on my art.

How did you find your personal approach to art? Who or what were some on your influences?

My grandfather had great interest in art and was a passionate architect. He was the one who took me to museums and galleries first. He told me about entrances and exits one can find in paintings, pointed out exciting compositions and explained to me how one’s eyes are moving through a painting. He was the one being groundbreaking to me and his influence still accompanies me today. My very own serious approach to art evolved when I understood that the un-restrictedness of art enables one to approach all kind of issues in some abstract and free way, in order to get to new perspectives and insights no one had before. Kind of using art as tool to achieve more wisdom about oneself as well as about the world one's living in. I started working really diversified. Doing video installations, sculptures, drawings and assemblages trying to figure out where my very own urge to create comes from. By constantly asking myself why, I slowly developed the skills and strategies I’m using now.

What does art mean to you personally?

I’m grateful having art discovered as a rewarding way of thinking, feeling and living.

Do you think your background in architecture informs your art?

I learned all kind of approaches to composition, harmony and material while studying architecture. Moreover I had the great opportunity to travel many countries and develop some open-mindedness towards new people, cultures and situations which now help me pushing myself and the borders of my artworks towards states they hadn’t been yet.

Do you have a concrete idea in your head from the very beginning on what the painting should look like in the end? When would you say a painting of yours if finished?

I’m dealing with the supposed trivia surrounding me. Some moving shadow, a light reflection or trash on the street. Since everything around us affects and shapes us. Whether we perceive it actively or subconsciously. The trivia, which we often perceive subconsciously, have just as great an effect on our thinking, feeling and acting as things that actively enter our consciousness. Therefore I try to encounter my environment very cautious. Usually I’m starting my pieces with some sketch, photo or video of a trivial moment not thinking about the actual outcome. I never do preliminary drawings and focus only on the transmission giving the artwork enough space to become what it wants to be by bid on chance and intuition. Thereby I seek my fulfillment not in things, but in moments, and that is what I try to convey through my paintings – the merits of encountering ones environment more cautiously.

Are you working on several artworks at the same time or are you always concentrating on one at a time?

I’m constantly working on several pieces at the same time by putting them in some kind of relationship. A creative cycle that always raises new questions which I pursue.

How do you overcome a creative block?

Usually I take a break from working at the studio for some hours or even days trying to get some distance to my work. Doing walks in the nature and writing is helping me a lot to refocus.

Can you tell us a little bit about your current exhibition at Gallery 46 in London?

I teamed up with Elenchus, an art incubator and curatorial organization which gathered very talented artists to do a show at the Gallery 46. Great artists like Tom Cartmill, Peter Evans, Lucy Fathery and Gabriele Herzog participated in this exhibition. It was a great experience seeing my pieces alongside their work.

What are you currently working on?

I recently have been to the Côte d’Azur for a couple of weeks working on some new pieces. Right now I'm focusing on those new works by doing a book visually documenting my stay there.

What are you listening to at the moment?

Psychic by Darkside.

What are you reading at the moment?

‘Das Glasperlenspiel’ by Hermann Hesse and ‘Also sprach Zarathustra’ by Friedrich Nietzsche.