Money first, art second. That’s how conversations about Adrian Ghenie usually go.
I met the artist—dressed inconspicuously in all black and Nike sneakers, accompanied by a gentle aroma of cigarette smoke—at the opening of his latest exhibition, “The Fear of Now,” at Thaddaeus Ropac in London. I was always terrified of drawing because I thought it was about precision and I’m the opposite of that,” he said. But discovering a type of paper he could work on with charcoal and erase if he made a mistake changed his relationship to the medium.
“Because of these devices, I have this feeling that I’m not alone anymore,” Ghenie said. “There is this collectiveness inside my studio, which I cannot kick out. It doesn’t let me be alone. But at the same time, I’m not connected either. This limbo, this is what I feel.”. ©Adrian Ghenie. Photo: Jörg von Bruchhausen. Courtesy Thaddaeus Ropac gallery, London, Paris, Salzburg, Seoul.His father was a dentist who worked with his mother, a dental technician.