Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do.
I’m an artist living in Basel with my dog, Boh. I’m mainly doin’ the best I can.
Courtesy of the artist and PHILIPPZOLLINGER, Zürich.
Are there any influences that are core to your work?
I started my studies as an illustrator, so I’m rather steadfast in my conviction to visual communication. Ideally, I’m able to make my work accessible to as many people as possible. Besides that, so many people and things.
Courtesy of the artist and PHILIPPZOLLINGER, Zürich. Photo of installation view in “Besides the Point,” Kunstmuseum Basel (2025) courtesy of Samuel Bramley.
Is there a moment you look back on as being formative to your identity as an artist?
When I was 16, I went to the Hirshhorn Museum on a school trip. I saw a woman stumble over Mona Hatoum’s Entrails Carpet (1995). The room went silent, the woman was mortified, the guard stood there with his jaw dropped, and I knew I wanted to be an artist.
(That’s a super grandiose retelling. The school trip was part of the MICA Pre-College summer program. I always liked art, but I didn’t know much. Anyway, just before that I was walking around looking at all of these little boxes in the corners of every room. For the life of me, I couldn’t find the wall label for them. They had a roll of paper inside with a needle making a drawing, really slowly. (You’ve likely guessed what they were by now.) So, I learned about humidity readers because the TA, after watching me walk through every room on that floor, came over and told me it was not a work, and laughed. Then, this stranger tripped. I felt the same as her just a minute before, but everyone was paying attention to her, and I understood that. I had the same access to that as everyone else. Also, to be clear, she never fell. It was like a Buster Keaton skit.)
But honestly, every experience was/is formative. That’s just one I’ve processed.
Courtesy of the artist, The Approach, London and PHILIPPZOLLINGER, Zürich. Documentation by Michal Brzezinski.
What is your current studio or workspace like? (Please include a photo if you have one.) Do you have any rituals when you settle in there?
Currently, my studio is in an old industrial building behind a train station.
Do you have any tools or materials that are staples to have with you or to use when making work?
Ideally, I would have a table, a window, and a couch.
What is your approach to using humor in your work?
I’m just a big fan of comedy. Humor is a way to invite everyone in. Lauren Berlant said, “Whenever I tell someone I’m writing a book on humorlessness, they always laugh. Because humorlessness is so unbearable… A liberal model of humor and humorlessness would suggest that you should always try to cure humorlessness with humor, because humor is what keeps things warm between people and it makes it possible to move together in the social.”
Courtesy of the artist and PHILIPPZOLLINGER, Zürich.
What draws you to using the character Wile E. Coyote as a motif in your work? How was he introduced into your practice? Is there a conversation that you want his inclusion to foster?
Initially, I was drawn to the tragicomic nature of the character. The first Wile E.’s I made were a series of monoprints without much intention. But the character sorta stuck with me. Later, it came to encompass the Mark Twain passage the cartoon was partially based on, several of the mythologies discussed in Lewis Hyde’s Trickster Makes This World, and Adam Curtis’s documentary, The Century of the Self. It’s been years since I last watched the Curtis documentary, but there’s a part about the moment of fulfillment being right before you have something but knowing you can have it.
Courtesy of the artist and PHILIPPZOLLINGER, Zürich.
Your work is sometimes designed to circumvent the expectations of how art functions in a gallery – like your series Self-Destructive Work that self-immolates at a planned date & time or the triptych from your show Possum that darkens and dims when the viewer approaches for a closer look. What draws you to making work that is creates an atypical viewing experience?
In part, my approach comes from my anxiety to perform. I think my work is rather cathartic. Like we’ve all been anxious about missing a deadline or something going awry. My Kopfkino has paintings that laugh when someone walks up to them and, next door, resin cast bubble wrap that makes a space look perpetually stuck ‘in progress.’ They’re not all scary movies though.
“…to have perception be conscious instead of unconscious, simply make the familiar unfamiliar.” -Lewis Hyde, A Primer for Forgetting: Getting Past the Past (p. 123.)
Moreover, I’m just trying to entertain myself.
Courtesy of the artist and PHILIPPZOLLINGER, Zürich. Documentation by sgomento zurigo.
What is your experience as an artist living and working in Basel, and how does it compare to your experience previously living and working in the United States? Were there any moments of culture shock that you did not expect?
Ya, moving from Brooklyn to Basel was something. Did you know radiators shouldn’t make any noise?
How does your creative community now compare to your creative community when you were younger?
Well, we’re all older now…. as far as I know.
Courtesy of the artist and PHILIPPZOLLINGER, Zürich. Installation view at “Besides the Point,” Kunstmuseum Basel, documented by Samuel Bramley.
Do you consider the reception of your work while you are making it?
How do you manage tending to the variety of responsibilities in the work you do? How do you mitigate burnout or exhaustion?
So far… not that well… I think you guys noticed…
Courtesy of the artist and Bolo Publishing, Basel.
Do you have any upcoming projects that your able to share?
I’m in Manifesta 16 this summer 🙂
What do you collect?
Mostly unread emails. Although, my art collection is growing.
Courtesy of the artist, Castiglioni, Milan and PHILIPPZOLLINGER, Zürich. Documentation by Filippo Armellin.
Interview by Seth Nguyen.