LARS
DEIKE
Artist Lars Deike paints passionate
male and female nudes, often
projecting erotic themes including
both heterosexual and gay themes.
Depictions of leather men, rubber
masks, ropes, sport fetishes,
sexual acts, pain as much as
traditional nudes collide in his
work. Most of his works come at you
work
like one big party of colors. Some of his
works are entirely liberated from any
shame and you feel you have entered a
space that is private yet somehow
exhibitionistic. Let this world embrace
the freak in you, let it touch stroke your
inner strings - and if you want to see
the most daring of his works, head to his
print shop: but a warning, if you are
very conservative in your views, some
works just might make your head
explode. Interview by Kimmo Matias.
Imagery courtesy of Lars Deike.
Can you first tell us a little bit about yourself
and your background?
I am a sensitive human being, I inherited that
from my mother - beautiful, but also often
painful and cumbersome. My art has often
helped me endure, to process, to understand.
My art has become my lifeline, like air, love and
sex. I was born a publisher's son in Constance,
near Swiss border. I trained as a publisher's
merchant, then worked as an editor in a large Berlin
newspaper. I've studied photography in Los Angeles,
have had a photo studio in Munich, then Berlin. I
specialized in nude and fetish photography.
How long have you been painting professionally?
In 2008, I changed from photography to painting, so 9
years.
You mainly paint the male nude, and nude figures in
general. What drew you to the subject matter? And
have you painted this particular subject from the very
beginning?
I love men, young men, muscles, beauty of the night,
sex, love, fetish, body, passion, sensuality, tenderness,
power, light, shadow, ecstasy of color... $%