East Coast Editor Trong Gia Nguyen catches up with Berlin-based artist Hannes Bend, who is in New York for his first American solo show at Half Gallery, up now through February 11.  The two met four years ago in Germany while working on a show at Goff & Rosenthal Gallery, and Nguyen recently curated Bend's work into last year's group exhibition Never Late than Better at the Elizabeth Foundation. In March at the Freies Museum in Berlin, the two artist-curators, along with writer Emilie Trice, will collaborate as organizers of the exhibition A Room, the Wind, and Satellites.

TRONG GIA NGUYEN: When did you first get the idea to cast candy?

HANNES BEND: In 2006 while walking past the Bonbonmacherei candy store in Berlin Mitte. I was working for KW (which is located across the street) on the Into Me / Out of Me catalogue. I was attracted to the fragrant smells, which were really intense outside on the street. A couple of months later, I had produced the first molds (which were out of steel then) and was apprenticing with the owner of the store, who taught me the craft of candymaking. I liked the idea of making visually appealing works in candy colors, but with an ironic connotation...and not just using candy colors like Koons and Murakami, but using real candy. Candy is also an industrial product, and sugar is omnipresent, in almost every product at the supermarket. And of course there is the temptation of wanting to consume the works with other senses than the eyes. The chosen object--for example the taxidermy bunny or the deer head--contradicts the material. Wanting to lick a dead animal or finding it cute has a macabre effect. The CandY series has evolved a lot from the beginning. I started with works that referenced minimal art or Janine Antoni and Felix Gonzalez-Torres, although they used candy differently.

TGN: A lot of your work seems to escape the stereotypical "German profundity" that many might associate with established German art, i.e. Anselm Kiefer, Neo Rauch, and Vera Lutter. Your use of color and candy are playful in contrast. Do you find yourself part of a new wave of German artists who take themselves a little "less serious?"

HB: I haven't noticed the existence of such a "new wave." But I think it's necessary to remind yourself as an artist that this is "just" art and not about life and death. Even if it could feel like that, having fun is important. Making great work doesn't demand irony or humor, of course. But I still see much more good work of that vein in English, American or other international artists, more so than in German artists' work.

TGN: I don't know hardly any either. Maybe Tino Sehgal? But he is "British-German" if that means anything. Then what about geometry in your paintings? How do you arrive at the shapes, forms, and colors that you do?

HB: I started the series of CircUlaR paintings back in 2003. Using the reduced geometrical form of a circle--with its multitude of interpretations ranging from harmony to perfection to infinity--I want to draw attention to the vacancies in our perception. Whatwarp (2009) and unBEnannt (2009) show a circle segmented in various colours. At first glance these works suggest the existence of complete circles... but there is in fact not a single complete circle. Our senses are not satisfied with fragmentation, and our preconceived idea of a circle replaces what we actually see, seemingly leading us to an inner utopia. These make-believe circles play with our expectations and reference art historical precedents, such as Op Art, Gerhard Richter's color field paintings and even mandalas. Creating these paintings is a long process –I don't use the same color twice, to give the paintings a sense of infinity. Some of them have almost 300 different, non-repeating colors.

TGN: You recently came back from Art Basel Miami. What were some of your favorite pieces that you saw down there?

HB: At Art Basel I enjoyed discovering Robert Lazzarini's works (the gun at the Deitch Projects booth). By coincidence I met him in New York after the fair, and following an interesting studio visit, he will be participating in a show I'm curating in Berlin at the Freies Museum in March. At Scope, I liked your booth, honestly, and the Krelwear booth. I also liked Johanna Tiedtke's paintings which were shown at the Foci Art Fair...and her performance at Le Baron one night, pouring buckets of ice over friends' heads, was amazing.

TGN: You've spent time in Berlin and New York. What are the major differences between the two art scenes that would interest artists who are considering to visit or re-locate?

HB: The real estate market in Berlin is changing so fast. Compared to New York you can still get an inexpensive studio, but prices have risen dramatically over my ten years in the city. Obtaining materials is easier in Berlin; it's a smaller city, and hardware and art supply stores are better organized, and less expensive, from my experience. And you can have fun and be creative...there are lots of parties, open-minded people, and new, interesting places opening all the time. But I'm more interested in New York right now. I like being anonymous again, facilitated by the sheer number of people, and exploring the great variety of life in New York. There's a more interesting museum and gallery infrastructure, including many organizations and studio programs that support visual artists. I just saw the terrific show of John von Bergen at the non-profit gallery Smack Mellon in Dumbo. I guess a conclusion is hard. You can produce works more easily and cheaply in Berlin, but New York offers much more diversity.

TGN: What works at Half Gallery are you most excited to show?

HB: I'm excited to be showing at Half Gallery in general. It's my first solo show in New York. On display will be a few CandY works along with five CircUlaR paintings. It's a small but challenging space, and I'm interested to see how the works from the two series will interact within it.

TGN: Do you have a sweet tooth?

HB: I didn't mention this before...but the real reason I love New York is the carrot cakes you can buy in delis on every corner.

~ Trong Gia Nguyen

Images: Hannes Bend, Praying Hands (2009), courtesy the artist, copyright VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn; Hannes Bend and Anne Deppe, Hasenbad/Bunny Pool (2009), C-print, courtesy the artists, copyright VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn.