Hasta La Ideas

Michael Riedel, the very tall, very thin German artist represented by David Zwirner Gallery, might just be the nicest artist at the friendliest booth at The Armory Show. And since his work takes over David Zwirner‘s prime location right near the entrance of Pier 94, in full-view of the champagne bar, he might just be the show’s star as well. Of course, it’s not just a good location that makes his work stand out. The pieces themselves, created specifically for the Armory booth, stand apart from their surroundings. Unlike most of what I saw at the Armory, Riedel’s three pieces—riffs on magazine layout design—are black and white and entirely graphic.

He uses InDesign to create a patchwork of page layouts, but he insists that he’s not a designer and has absolutely no design background. “Everyone has been asking me that,” he laughs as he walks me through the pieces he has on display. For text material he uses recordings, press clippings, found text—anything is fair game. “I need text but I don’t want to think about what to write…I could use this interview right now,” he says. In the past he’s transcribed a recording of the conversations at the entrance of a nightclub as well as a transcription of his arrest after he attempted to steal money that was on display at a museum in Frankfurt. He’s also used safer sources, like the text from an invitation for a book presentation. “Text and image are the same to me,” he explains.

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