KIM HIORTHOY EXHIBITION & INTERVIEW EXTRACT

19 May 2005 | exhibitions

19 May - 11 June, 2005, Magma Clerkenwell

No-one would mind if Kim Hiorthøy was boastful and abrasively self-confident. Artists as talented as him are allowed to be arrogant. But Hiorthøy is modest and self-effacing: a compelling mix of self-doubt, introspection and creative energy. He draws, he designs, he writes, he makes films, he produces books and makes music. Praise embarrasses him. He prefers understatement and obliqueness.

Hiorthøy is famous for his CD cover designs for cult Norwegian labels Rune Grammofon and Smalltown Supersound. He recently designed and art directed a label monograph Money Will Ruin Everything) which was lavishly praised in the Guardian, The Sunday Times and The Wire. His book Tree Weekend is a beguiling concoction of graphics, illustration, prose and idiosyncratic imagery.

All Hiorthøy’s work is characterised by a sense of risk taking. He follows no recognisable path, and yet like all great artists, his influences and sources of inspiration are readily apparent. Nude Pictures for the Sex Kino is to be held at Magma in Clerkenwell, and will consist of a a selection of his work including record sleeves, posters and books, plus new large-scale prints, drawings and work-in-progress.

As Hiorthoy notes: “I’m confused.”

Taking a page from John Cage's notes, arguably last century's most important polyartist, Norwegian graphic designer Kim Hiorthøy revels in approaching things with this sense of what he likes to call openness.
(Taken from Japanese magazine TOKION)

 Here's an extract from Kim's interview with Marc Valli for GRAPHIC 09 – THE STORY:

 The Deadline. Yes. Of Course. The Deadline…
An interview with Kim Hiorthoy
By Marc Valli

The other day I opened the paper and read the sentence, ‘understatement reminds us that there is something under our statements.’ This was not written about Kim Hiorthoy. It happened to be an essay on Freud, of all people. But I thought, Yeah, that’s Kim Hiorthoy alright. Understated and yet opinionated, at the same time satirical, lyrical, vague, precise, poignant, minimal, spontaneous, unresolved, insightful, deadpan, often ostensibly unoriginal and yet completely new, different, all over the place (using typography, illustration, improvised sculptures, scribbles, words, songs, recipes…) and yet contained, controlled, instantly recognizable, unmistakably Kim Hiorthoy’s. His work is the perfect antidote to the day to day grind of commercial graphic practice. There’s always warmth in the work. Behind every piece you guess that there’s a little story, a half-serious, semi surreal joke, a more or less coherent anecdote, a glimpse of life. I like to imagine Kim as the flaneur of the graphic world, wandering through the streets of Oslo, Berlin and London with a cell phone and a Mac.

Marc: How would you define yourself? Artist? Graphic designer? Musician? Illustrator? Other?
Kim: I've tried not to. Partly because I am a coward, but also because not calling myself anything makes it easier for me to do things.

Marc: What was your first passion, I mean, in terms of artwork?
Kim: I found out about Andy Warhol when I was around 15 and he became very important to me for a long time.

Marc: You seem to do a fair bit of self-initiated work - do you also work with clients? If so, how do they react to your approach?
Kim: The only new clients I get now is through my agents (This Is Real Art, see questions bellow) and they usually handle most of the back and forth with clients, so to be honest I don't really know. Outside of that I really only work for people I have known for long time. I try to be professional and reasonable, I suppose. It's mostly a case of being asked to act in this or that capacity and I try to respond accordingly.

Marc: I've always wondered how your agents 'sell' you, or rather, how they present you and your work to potential clients?
Kim: I love my agents and I have a lot of respect and humble feelings for them. I have no idea how they present me and my work to potential clients. And I'm happy that way.

Marc: Is there such a thing as a Kim Hiorthoy style?
Kim: Well there's the constant absence of any kind of precision or elegance. A persistent lack of originality perhaps, sad attempts to copy semi-old work by M/M Paris, Tomato, The Designers Republic or other famous designers. Pitiful emulations of whatever is the flavour of the month. I would like to say I don't have a style, but I probably do; just the sum of my shortcomings and my limits and interests and habits and so on. It gets tricky with styles, particularly with getting work, where on the one hand it's good for business if people can recognize your things and want them, but at the same time you want to do new things and not repeat yourself.

Marc: Tell us a bit about your work methods.
Kim: It depends so much on what type of project it is and who it is for, but almost always when I am given a job I have some immediate flash in my head of what it should be. I sometimes try and follow that idea, but often worry that since I thought of it first it's probably crap and I should to try and think more, or just think of something new. But often I also feel that trying too hard to think of something new or 'original' or ‘what it is’ gets in the way what is really needed, if that makes sense, and I should have just done the first thing that came to me. None of that made any sense, did it? To be honest I am not completely sure what my work methods are. The truest thing is perhaps to say that my only method is to just start working. A lot of ideas aren't articulated when I start working and instead I'll just start working and things happen as I go. I usually wait until the last minute before I start a job and then work very fast. I don't know why this is. It never seemed to me a very good idea. I'm almost always late and afterwards I feel that the result would have been better if I had taken more time and worked more on it. I don't really make sketches or roughs, I usually just begin on the thing itself. Although sometimes things can benefit from being made fast.

Read the rest of the interview in GRAPHIC 09 – THE STORY

www.thisisrealart.com