Andy Hope German, b. 1963

Andy Hope 1930 (born Andreas Hofer)  uses imagery from comic books, film noir, and forms of early Minimalism to make works that careen from the grotesque to the intimate and restrained. His flat works are often constructed on supports that he buys at various flea markets, while his sculptures often enlarge childish toys—rockets or action figures, for example—to fantastical sizes. He frequently references art history as he finds inspiration in the works of past artists such as Marcel Duchamp, Paul Klee, and Kasimir Malevich.

Hope considers the year 1930 as an interruption in time, an obstacle challenging the historical avant-garde in European modernity, amidst a series of social, political, and artistic crises. The ‘1930’ acts as a portal allowing Hope to assume the role of a time-traveler, pursuing and projecting a persona of alien modernity. Though he only adopted his name in 2010, Hope has been signing his work this way since the beginning of his career.

He has had one-person exhibitions at Kestnergesellschaft, Hannover; Inverleith House, Edinburgh; Goetz Collection, Munich; Kunsthistorisches Museum and CAC Contemporary Art Club at Theseustempel, Vienna; and MARTa Herford, Germany. His work has been included in group exhibitions at Centre Pompidou, Paris; Pinacoteca Agnelli, Turin; KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin; MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt; ZKM Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie, Karlsruhe; Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin; and the Rubell Family Collection, Miami. Hope participated in the 2012 Gwangju Biennale and is included in the 57th Venice Biennale.