Erik Steinbrecher

Over the past 30 years, Swiss artist Erik Steinbrecher (born 1963) has been collecting and compiling photographs, illustrated books, newspaper and magazine photographs, archival footage and montages. This book provides a glimpse into his extensive collection in an associative collage.

Erik Steinbrecher, an artist who also has training as an architect, was born in 1963 in Basel, and currently works in Berlin. His oeuvre, which includes an archive of more than 20,000 photographs, as well as sculptures and installations based on those images, has been shown at Documenta X (on bus shelters), and at P.S.1 (Couch Park). The title of this new monograph, which at first seems to be an ironic reply to the assumed purity of Minimalism, represents the very substance of Steinbrecher's work: "Minimalist Kitsch" signifies a productive contradiction between reduction and immoderation. Minimalist Kitsch offers readers some background on the artist's career, which has largely matured off of the American stage, and recent works, including several seen for the first time here.