To celebrate the unveiling of Halo Ex Ante 2020 - the latest cuvée in Feinkost Käfer's limited edition 'Artist Wines' series - we caught up with the artist behind the label: Justin Almquist.
Both playful and iconic, what inspired you to create the artwork that features on the Halo Ex Ante 2020 label?
Humor along with a 'dumb elegance' has always played a role in my work. I wanted to create an image that is an 'Augenzwinkern' while simultaneously being enjoyable to look at and 'iconic' as you put it.
You once wrote that "I habitually read the correspondence between artists, writers or whoever’s work I’m into at any given moment." Whose correspondence are you diving into right now, and what have these readings brought up in you?
I'm currently reading Baffling Means by the poet Clark Coolidge and the painter Philip Guston. This book contains the words of Coolidge and images of Guston. It becomes a conversation or call and response between two artists whose work merges to create a new form.
Neverland Vineyards is inspired by the playfulness and creativity of our childhood hero, Peter Pan. Is there any part of your childhood that you still tap into that sparks joy?
I think the part of my childhood that I still tap into is a way of looking at and moving through life involving fantasy or a 'magical realism' which allows invisible parallel narratives to exist adjacent to my day to day reality.
Bio
Justin Almquist (born 1976) is an American artist who studied at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, and at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich under Markus Oehlen. He currently divides his time between Marfa, Texas (USA) and Munich (Germany). His often humorous drawings, paintings, and sculptures are represented in the public collections of the Bavarian State Painting Collections/Pinakothek der Moderne, the State Graphic Collection, and the Lenbachhaus with Kunstbau in Munich.
