FEATURING IEPE B.T. RUBINGH

This week we are featuring the artist Iepe B.T. Rubingh. Dutch born in 1974, Iepe has been living and working in Berlin since 1997.

Iepe is among other things the founder of “Chessboxing”, but here we would like to focus in his most recent painting work - “Painting Reality”.

On the 25th of April 2010, 500 liters of paint were dumped on Rosenthaler Platz in the center of Berlin Mite – a new color in front of every traffic light. The cars drove over the paint and became the “paint brushes”. The action was executed anonymously and for month’s people were guessing whether this was a “Guerilla Advertising Campaign” or an artwork.

We spoke to the artists and asked him some questions:

- Is “Iepe” your real name?

Yes it is. Actually my full name is Iepe Benne Tee Rubingh. Big Iepe, Ben and Theo were the three best friends of my father. Iepe in Dutch means elm tree.


- Is it true that you wore wooden glasses back in the days?

That's also true. In fact my father made them, as he was a carpenter. In the eighties he had a carpentry with his partner Rein. At a certain point, Rein decided to leave society and go to the outskirts of it; Iceland. My father ran the business by himself and got so caught up in it, that he never managed to visit his old working partner.

Finally after 10 years he packed his suitcase and flew to Reykjavik. Rein picked him up with his car and they drove instantly to his house on the countryside. Rein first showed my father his little carpentry next to the house and gave him a present. It was a little trunk of a tree my father had never seen before.

'What kind of tree is this?', my father asked.

'It is the trunk of a tree that only grows on Iceland', Rein answered. 'You should check the quality, it's amazing!'

My father spend a week on Iceland having a great time with Rein and enjoying the impressive landscape before flying back to Rotterdam.

Just a few days after he had returned, I visited my parents. My father took me into the carpentry and showed me the little trunk. We started testing its quality by cutting of a piece, bending it, making it wet, heating it as well. It was enormously strong and flexible. The reason must have been that it had grown very slowly due to the very harsh climate. Then we thought what to make out of it.

'Glasses! We will make you a new pair of glasses! As the wood is so strong and flexible it will suit perfectly for the purpose of glasses!'

During testing we found out that the wood expended while heating it, which would be perfect putting the glasses in.

So my father started working on it. I helped him a bit grinding a part or two, but my father really putted a lot of effort and all his experience in it. At the end one could really say it was his masterpiece. We ordered the glasses. Using a hairdryer we heated the frame, putted the glasses in and plopp finished! I was the proud owner of father made wooden glasses and couldn’t stop telling the story for weeks.

Now there is one particular part of he story that I forgot to tell. This tree doesn't only grow on Iceland; it also grows only in the weekends. Somehow I always felt a certain energy in my head during the weekends at the time I wore those glasses...

- What does this story have to do with your latest work 'Painting Reality'?

Nothing. Except that one should enjoy life and create stories!

- Thank you Iepe.

You can see the Video for “Painted Reality” HERE.

You can read more about the artist HERE.