Interview: Aloys Rump
Luca Curci talks with Aloys Rump during THE BODY LANGUAGE 2020 at THE ROOM Contemporary Art Space.

Aloys Rump was born in 1949 in Boppard, Germany. From 1970 to 1974 he studied at the Dusseldorf Art Academy with Peter Brüning and Gerhard Richter. From 1974 to 1978 he studied at Berlin University of the Arts with Fred Thieler. Nowadays, he is living and working in Boppard. Since 1976, he has participated in exhibitions in Amboise (F), Arnsberg, Augsburg, Basel, Berlin, Beijing, Bad Ems, Bonn, Boppard, Bruxelles (B), Brangues (F), Chemnitz, Erfurt, Frankfurt, Herzogenrath, Hamburg, Köln, Ludwigshafen, Maastricht, Mannheim, Mainz, Mittelstrimmig, Neuwied, Paris, Petah Tikva (Israel), Shanghai, Wiesbaden.

Luca Curci – Which subject are you working on?
Aloys Rump – The group of works of the past ten years have consisted of working with slate flour and marble dust (two large works with this material were on display in 2018 in the “Entfesselte Natur” exhibition in the Hamburg Kunsthalle), works of lyrical nature, pictures about love letters from famous men and women and, since 3 years, of objects: brain shells of a ceramic-like modeling clay. The slate flour-marble dust works deal with celestial bodies, landscapes and citiesthat are seen from a bird’s eye view, and look like satellite photos. The skullcaps and brainshells show, among other things, artists, writers, philospohes, who have shaped my life.

LC – Where do you find your inspiration?
AR – I find my inspiration in nature, in poetry but also in politics.

LC – Did your style change over the years? How is being an artist nowadays?
AR – Since I am a bit older, I can look back on a relatively eventful artistic life. It will never be easy to be an artist, but I would never want to do anything else.

LC – Do you agree with our vision of art and what do you think about the theme of the festival?
AR – I think you are doing a good job and the theme of your exhibition is a success.

LC – In which way the artwork presented in our exhibition is connected with the festival’s theme?
AR – My work for this exhibition, a brainbowl with the picture of Marcel Duchamp outside and a picture of a chess set inside, all in a wodden-box, has to do with the title of the exhibition “Body Language” in so far as the brain is one of the most important and complex organ in the human body, surrounded by the brainshell.

LC – What do you think about ITSLIQUID Platform?
AR – The performance of ITSLIQUID Platform looks good. How you present yourself on the Internet comes across well.