International artist Markus Linnenbrink talks with Klein Artist Work participants about the value of having a balanced life, being driven by one’s own passion, and getting away from the siren song of stardom.
“Early in my career things were a little frustrating. You know, I was like, ‘Damn! I’m never getting this grant or that grant… I’m not showing here, I’m not showing there…. So I thought, ‘You know what? I’m just going to cancel all my Art Forum subscriptions and I’m not going to be like, ‘Oh, god, my show wasn’t reviewed,’ or whatever. I let go of all of that. It was a very personal decision, but for me a very healthy decision because it freed me to focus on what I do and not get too tight. Because desperation—you know, you can smell desperation. You can smell it on the dealer’s side, and the dealer can smell it on the artist’s side, or the curator’s or whatever. And it’s not a good odor.”
Markus Linnenbrink is an international artist who lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. Linnenbrink was born in the industrial city of Dortmund, Germany in 1961. He studied for three years at the University of Kassel before moving to Berlin, where he completed his degree at the Academy of Arts. For the past twenty-five he has been able to work as a full-time artist. Linnenbrink’s extensive exhibition history includes shows at such venues as the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts Museum, Philadelphia; Kong Tomlinson Contemporary, New York; number35, New York; Roy Boyd Gallery, Chicago; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Galerie Fiedler Contemporary, Cologne; Märkisches Museum, Witten, Germany; Museum Neue Galerie, Kassel; The Columns, Seoul; and Ana Serratosa Gallery, Valencia. Linnenbrink is represented by Ameringer McEnery Yohe Gallery in New York, Patricia Sweetow Gallery in San Francisco, taubert contemporary in Berlin, and Galeria Max Estrella in Madrid. Prints of Linnenbrink’s work are available through Center Street Studio in Milton Village, Massachusetts, as are editions through the online-based Maharam Digital Projects.