Today we’d like to introduce you to Conrad Freiburg.
Conrad, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
My story is interlaced with grand and absurd gestures; I’ll describe what I have made so far.
Early on I made contraptions, failures mostly. Like the “Catapult for the Next Millennium” which launched objects into the future. It was a big party, and the catapult barely worked, and it was a hilarious gathering of 54 people in a fallow bean field, Paris, Illinois. I studied Fluxus and Dada. Picabia was my favorite painter.
The Catapult event showed me the power art has to be many things at once, and that people like absurd mechanisms.
Next, I made a bowling ball roller coaster inside Linda Warren’s gallery in Chicago. All the mechanisms were human powered, and everything was wood, wire, limestone, and bowling balls. It felt dangerous to be in there, and hilarious and momentous. Youtube “Invitation to Destroy” for the video doc.
I integrated worldy information into my art. “The Great Daydream” was a show about the Declaration of Independence, The absent topic, The Columbian Exposition of 1893, DeKooning, Flannery O’Connor, Mark Twain were influences.
I made an instrument out of an Art center with a pendulum powered drawing machine.
I made an eleven-sided fully rotational celestial observatory in Amish country.
Here in LA, I am making an Earthquake Powered Sculpture, hosting Get Togethers at my sculptural auditory playground and developing my inner power.
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
I love art because it can be so many things at once.
I think of craftsmanship as a protest to capitalism’s quality gap.
Irony is childish,
Sincerity is powerful.
Art provides the opportunity to be outside oneself and to perceive with new ears, eyes, and touch.
Art illuminates Blind Spots.
In as much as I know my “blind spots, it is because writers, artists, and musicians have done the work and I showed up to take it in.
Music helps intuition shine.
I think LA needs a little more kindness and depth, so I host get-togethers to listen and gather and eat and drink and enjoy what it means to be enriched by abundant and creative being.
My studio is an auditory playground with sculptures that shape sound.
My goal is to foster deep listening.
Art is the best slow burn.
Any advice for aspiring or new artists?
Artists don’t need advice. They need to be seen and valued.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
The best way to see my work is to come to an event at my auditory playground (aka “the Hopper”), or set up a studio visit appointment. Join my mailing list to be informed of whens and wheres.
Right now I have an ongoing portrait project and am accepting new subjects. Commission a portrait! The portraits all start with the same question “What do You Find Beautiful.” and then we talk about that, and then I make a piece of art that is based in your beauty idea.
Eventually, these portraits will make their way into a formalized art show. I will hunt around for galleries when the time is right. For now, I am relishing the opportunity to learn about people through the topic of beauty.
Contact Info:
- Website: analogyshop.com
- Email: conrad@analogyshop.com
- Instagram: @listeningsculpture
Image Credit:
Conrad Freiburg
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