Since Michael Konrad arrived in Philadelphia from New York, he has been walking the streets of our city, looking at the collapse of its ebulliant industrial past and the collapse of the meaning of words. He notices how people jury-rig ways to survive and mend what is broken. His artwork involves carefully stitching and fusing the city’s ditritus–plastic bags, old signs, and crumbling homes and factories into a personal survivalism. Konrad, who has an MFA (2005) and a bachelor’s degree from NYU (2001), showed in New York in Art in General in 2009. His Wind Challenge 2 exhibit at Fleisher Art Memorial in the first two months of this year inspired us to interview him. Listen to him next week on artblog radio. Here’s a sample clip.
[audio:Konrad_promo2.mp3]
