“Hereafter,” a show opening Thursday at Salon 94 Freemans in New York, features the sculpture of Matthias Merkel Hess, who makes ceramic copies of (mostly) household objects. Among the roughly 250 pieces are a Bose Wave radio, a Mr. Coffee brewer, a Black & Decker DustBuster and every single spoon in his home — items the Los Angeles artist considered appropriate for a modern-day tomb, for use in the afterlife.
Mr. Hess, who at 34 is statistically several decades from confronting an afterlife situation, took time recently to walk a reporter through the collection.
Q. HOW DO YOU CHOOSE WHAT TO MAKE?
A. I’m drawn to things from the ’70s and ’80s. I like the way things were designed then. I’m assuming industrial designers spent a long time thinking about, streamlining and getting it perfect. I’m not opposed to computer-assisted design but a DustBuster today looks like the SUV version of a DustBuster, with weird paneling and parts exploded in different directions. Whereas the old one, there’s a shape. It is simpler and more elegant in general.
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View the full interview at nytimes.com
