Hammer Blog

Yep, that's right. As far as I can tell, this incident where a Brazilian auto journalist was shot at while taking some spy shots is the only time a carmaker has actually employed potentially deadly force against a journalist. Even though I may have tempted some. The car is the VW Brasilia, and I think it's great.

Why L.A.? Why did you choose to work in this city in particular? Job offer. It was supposed to be temporary. How has your time in L.A. shaped your work? Made in L.A. is my L.A. coming-out moment...will see!

In L.A., I can read and write. That has made the work we do together better. There's no better place to read than Los Angeles.

I think LA chose me. I chose not to live in other places, so it was a process of elimination. Paris was too depressed and mean, New York too expensive and busy, and Portland too dreary and accepting. I lived in Mexico for a while, and it was just hard to get things done (it’s a country best set up for taking it easy). LA had the right balance of people, attitude and infrastructure. I came, I didn’t dislike, I stayed.

I first saw Ma Ke’s work in 2008 or 09 at an obscure space in Beijing. I was immediately taken by the two small paintings of his that were in a large group show. No one in the gallery could give me any information about him. It took me several years to track him down, but finally while visiting Platform China gallery in Beijing one day, I saw a catalogue of an artist’s work and instantly knew this must be the artist I had been looking for for such a long time.