Gregor Hildebrandt

„Let´s take the boat out. Wait until darkness.” (Peter Gabriel) Contemporary artist Gregor Hildebrandt uses song text fragments for the titles of his famous canvases, on which cassette tapes or old VHS tapes are accurately glued in parallel lines, creating appealing images filled with imaginary sound and memories.

When we visited his studio, his team was busy preparing works for Art Basel. Even though we came on a stressful...

„Let´s take the boat out. Wait until darkness.” (Peter Gabriel) Contemporary artist Gregor Hildebrandt uses song text fragments for the titles of his famous canvases, on which cassette tapes or old VHS tapes are accurately glued in parallel lines, creating appealing images filled with imaginary sound and memories.

When we visited his studio, his team was busy preparing works for Art Basel. Even though we came on a stressful day, Gregor offered us the choice between „cappuccino, americano or espresso?“, which is apparently only a small courtesy from somebody born in the French influenced gourmet area of Saarland.

The studio is booming with energy; audio- and videocassettes, models of future installations and tools of every kind fill every last space. But of course there’s still a place for a billiard table, which seems like a most welcome treat for Gregor’s  numerous assistants.

Impressive new works represent a Japanese garden in Tokyo, composed of tape recordings of Arnold Schoenberg's ‘The Book of the Hanging Gardens’. Atonal music transformed into beauteous abstract art was thrilling already - beyond that, Gregor made real music play! A cappuccino in our hands, standing in the middle of this Gesamtkunstwerk, we thought to ourselves that this has been one of our best studio visits yet.