It goes a little something like this. In the flow at The Armory Show, I found an amazing piece of artwork called “Master” by global artist Wulf Treu. Or I should say it found me. For the most part I was perusing the fair, press pass in play, searching for work that moved me to explore, and then suddenly with no effort at all, I found myself being mesmerized by the work of Wulf Treu. The emotion of the piece, the colors and the way they moved under the light, the metallic glittering gold crown of the “Master,” the regality and the sheer force of tribal ancestry I felt in the piece that pulled me into the booth, to be greeted by Rudolf Budja of Rudolf Budja Galerie. The gods were moving and on their appointed task. Immediately I inquired about the remote possibility of meeting Wulf and if possible, to spend some time with him. Rudolf proceeded to show me a couple of catalogues of the artists earlier and current works and agreed to set up a time the following day for us to meet. That’s where it all started. Meet Wulf Treu. Hailing from Potsdam, Germany, but to me quite other worldly, has an impeccable ability to converge the sociopolitical with the human truth experience of post-war East Germany in his works and statements while transforming his art into a language of its own. Definitely exhibiting the street element, converged with a rich meld of colors and just enough statement to push the envelope. In meeting the person ,the artist, the creation I found myself intrigued and fascinated not only with the Art and the back story, but the delivery and the ease. In a way in which most artists I have met cannot convey, or choose not to. It was like I had known him for eternity and there was a certain comfortable air exuding from his amazing personality. It’s more than art, its creation and the creator, and this was evident from second one. So let’s get to it:
Hi Wulf, So I have heard about the infamous “Cadillac” and your studio in Industrial Miami and I am intrigued about your process of finding materials? And finding the Cadillac? What about that story? (Quoting the Catalogue from the Frost Art Museum, by Caroline Damian) “There was this imposing German artist surrounded by huge paintings, objects that he had found on the surrounding streets and beyond, and an array of paints, books, music CD’s, and all the other things one might expect in a studio that exists in stark contrast to the bakery and other warehouse doorways that surround it. Before we looked at the work, he showed me his old Cadillac in the back alley and