Name: Daniel Knorr
Age: 45
Occupation: Artist
City / Neighborhood: Berlin
Your new solo show, which opened Saturday at Kayne Griffin Corcoran, “Depression Elevations,” includes a series of sculptures from resin casts of holes in Los Angeles city streets, and is also paired with the publication of a Los Angeles-focused book in your longer-running Carte de Artiste series of global encyclopedias, which draw together images of discarded objects found in urban landscapes. What led into the particular focus on topographies and found objects?
Topography, in my case, is more related to the social fabric as a landscape. Our act of driving shapes the road into that landscape. I focused on these found objects because they are witnesses of our time and left behind as objects with no value. The book produces a cultural statement going forward to give to these objects a variety of values in all possible social areas.
Courtesy of Courtesy Kayne Griffin Corcoran, Los Angeles
This is also your first solo show in Los Angeles. What were some of the things that stood out to you about the city in contrast to those you’ve worked with previously, and are there any specific ways that this translated into your working process?
Finally, I arrived home. The conceptualists of the ’70s working in L.A. were my spiritual influences when I started thinking about art. Further, my work always responds to a place, here in Los Angeles I found the car culture as one of the special conditions of the city. Depression Elevations are physically the potholes of the streets, but also refer to the world economic crisis, political conflicts, psychological condition, etc.
The Carte de Artistes books first began with an edition on your home country of Romania, and have extended to other countries or specific cities. Have you found that specific types of found objects appeal to you in different locations?
There are different objects that stand out in each country. In L.A., it was the fact that the public space is extended into the roads — for example, we found many objects near the highways. We found signs that were made by homeless people as well as political advertisements.
What’s the last show that surprised you? Why?
The last show I saw that surprised me was James Turrell here at Kayne Griffin Corcoran. After experiencing his Meditation Room I began to see light fragments outside the gallery in ways that were informed by the piece.
What’s the most indispensable item in your studio?
Good question, I’m still thinking.
What’s the first artwork you ever sold?
It was a watercolor drawing made by my uncle that I pretended was mine.
What’s the weirdest thing you ever saw happen in a museum or gallery?
An Italian museum, near Napoli, burned art pieces of their own collection to protest the fact that they had no money to maintain the museum.
What work of art do you wish you owned?
Any Duchamp readymade that you can still find on the market.