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"WHO AM I? : David Greg Harth"
September 27, 2012
"WHO AM I? : David Greg Harth"
1: Who am I?
I'm David Greg Harth. People call me Harth. I'm an artist. I'm a New Yorker. I am not terrorized. I'm an atheist. I'm a poet. I'm single. I'm a giver. I love eating apples and cucumbers. I often take photo booth portraits with strangers.
2: What do you do and what project are you currently working on?
I make art. I have a habit of making art that engages the viewer to participate. Without viewer participation, the art does not exist. I'm currently working on a time-based participatory project, called "Every Person I Know And Every Person I Don't Know." I'm taking photo booth portraits with every person I know and every person I don't know. Friends and strangers alike. I'm also always working on "The Holy Bible Project." In between those projects I make drawings that look like circulatory and neurological systems. I also collect human teeth, wishbones, and used female toothbrushes. I'm also always writing poetry.
3: Where are you from and where are you going?
I'm from New York and I'm staying in New York. I do plan on going to North Korea soon, however.
4: Who is your biggest hero?
My Opa.
5: What book is your bible?
6: What are some things you love? And some things you hate?
I love love. I love the concept of love. I love being in love. Hate is a strong word. I don't hate too much. I suppose I hate stupid people though.
7: What is your raison d'être?
I'm here to make art that makes people think. I'm here to spread love. I'm here to prevent other people from committing suicide.
8: What is your favorite color?
Orange, although most people think my favorite color is black.
9: Who is your favorite comic book superhero?
I don't have one. Although I was quite fond of Bugs Bunny growing up.
10: What is your favorite NYC hot spot?
Hot? What is a hot spot? I don't have time for hot spots. My skin is hot. I'm always hot. Some favorite spots of mine: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art, a grassy hill with David Ippolito nearby (the guitar man from Central Park), Tom & Jerry's, NoHo Star, and any place with a photo booth.
11: What turns you on?
I'll answer this in terms of what turns me on as well was what inspires me. Black fishnet stockings, the lines of James Siena, Amy Culter, Marcel Dzama, and Mahmoud Hamadani, the vaseline of Matthew Barney, the whiteness of Robert Ryman, the concepts and drawings of Sol LeWitt, the parking lots of Ed Ruscha, the collages of Robert Rauschenberg, the blood of Marc Quinn and Hermann Nitsch, the fluidity of Brice Marden, the hotel room of Andrea Fraser, the breasts of Marina Abramovic, the smell of Ursula von Rydingsvard's sculptures, the beard of A. A. Bronson, the situations of Tino Sehgal, the photographs of John Coplans, and the cow wall paper of Andy Warhol. I am also turned on and inspired by the shit of Piero Manzoni, the silver hair of Klaus Biesenbach, the masturbation of Vito Acconci, the chocolate of Janine Antoni, the time of Tehching Hsieh, the walking and fucking neon of Bruce Nauman, the one minute sculptures of Erwin Wurm, the urine of Andres Serrano, the perception of Lucian Freud, the sculpture of Mark di Suvero, the situations of Tino Sehgal, the guns of Tom Sachs, the reality of Walton Ford, the large naked women paintings of Jenny Saville, the meat and flies of Zhang Huan, the light of Robert Irwin, the words of Leonard Cohen, Sara Teasdale, the music of U2, James, David Bowie, Pulp, Hans Zimmer, The Clash, and cold apple cider.
12: What would the last question of this questionnaire be if you were the one asking?
This question I'm struggling with. It is tough and I have no idea. I'm going to answer this question like this:
Please have your readers ask me something.
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David Greg Harth is a visual artist based in New York City. He works across a diverse spectrum of media art including performance, video, installation, drawing, photography, and poetry. His work is often time-based and frequently requires public participation. Harth creates unexpected juxtapositions, often employing elements of tension and ambiguous social situations to provoke dialogue on a contemporary issue. Harth explores culture, politics, religion, sexuality, celebrity, and consumerism in his work.
A major part of his work involves gathering information, then collecting, documenting, and producing records on subjects ranging from current events and political, social and, economic justice to personal experience. In most instances, the process of a piece of artwork is just as important as the final work itself.
In his performance work, Harth creates unusual tensions in a common environment. He often puts his own body through strenuous activities to explore fragility, struggle, and adversity in both social and personal situations. Harth infiltrates the public realm with live street actions and interactive projects, often transgressing and questioning social boundaries.
David Greg Harth was born in New York. He has a BFA from Parsons School of Design and a studio at The Elizabeth Foundation For The Arts. He has exhibited in various galleries and art spaces since the mid 90s. Harth enjoys eating apples and the candid conversations that occur inside a photo booth with a stranger.
Questions by PMc Magazine
Edited by Ceara Maria Burns
Photography by David Greg Harth
Design by Jillian Mercado