Hans-Peter Feldmann: Catalogue

(Helena Tatay, ed)
Hans-Peter Feldmann: Catalogue
Cologne, Germany: Walter Konig Books, 2012
232 pp., 24 x 30 x 2 cm., hardcover
Edition size unknown

The resurgence of interest in Feldmann continues, with the second large monograph of the artist put out by Konig Books in as many years. This title is edited by Helena Tatay, and features a foreword by Hans Ulrich Obrist, texts by Brigitte Huck, Julia Peyton-Jones, Dirck Luckow and Tatay, as well as 264 colour and 381 b&w illustrations.

The title also includes a lengthy interview with Obrist and Tatay, in which Feldmann looks back over his career, discussing inspirational figures such as Marcel Broodthaers, Bruno Goller and Konrad Klapheck as well as some of his favorite books. It opens with a discussion of how rarely Feldmann agrees to be interviewed. Obrist says he found one online, which ends after two minutes. Feldmann explains that the interviewer arrived as he was eating dinner and his hamburger was getting cold.

Obrist opens up questions to the audience and Feldmann interjects: "...but only one sentence questions. Don't go on about theories, just one sentence, and not more than ten words". This is in keeping with a statement he had made a few years earlier, noting that art was like breathing or sneezing, and he didn't need a theory to sneeze.

He also discusses the  Düsseldorf painter Konrad Klapheck:

"He had some really remarkable quirks. For example, he learned Italian purely so he would be able to keep a diary in Italian. Or he has a set of bookshelves at home that's maybe a meter and a half long and a meter high, and full of books. And whenever a new book comes, he takes out an old book. He doesn't want to have any more books than fit on the shelves."