About This Book:
Back to Normal is the epitome of Busch’s style of art. He does not ask simple questions or offer easy answers, but happily thumbs his nose at convention, beauty, and formality. Like much of his work, Back to Normal is a collection of imperfections, and a love of the absurd. Dada for your nerves. It’s a striking display of nihilistic collage art, absurdist sculpture, and abstracted photographs—many with messages for the public. An image of a medieval coat of armor, placed against a lavish red-orange backdrop, is casually adorned with the work iPhone. Juxtapositions seemingly so meaningless they make one pause in wonder, only to discover there is no “Why?”
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About The Author:
Dennis Busch works in Germany, making his own brand of readymade photography, cutting and collaging and writing charmingly rude messages in white paint over many of the images. He constructs his images from photographs, revising our references until each work circles in on itself like a dream. Busch’s provocative iconography is at once awkward, edgy, aggressive, sexy, silly, and sometimes a little sentimental.
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Miss Rosen’s Contribution:
Back to Normal features “Made With Hate,” an afterword by Miss Rosen.
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Except from the Afterword:
A musician, graphic and clothing designer, and artist Dennis Busch has a distinct and twisted vision. “Showcased here is a striking display of nihilistic collage art, absurdist sculpture, abstracted photographs, high-profile publications, and a hand-printed clothing line. From an apple with rotten teeth to a black and white photograph of a policeman doing battle with a giant pink penis painted over the image, Busch’s provocative iconography is at one awkward, edgy, aggressive, sexy, silly, and sometimes even a little sentimental.
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“I think my art should be true to itself,” says Busch. “Art should laugh about itself; I mean laugh to death.” A self-taught artist with no formal training, Busch was born in Amstelveen, Netherlands, and is currently residing in Ottersburg, Germany. Made With Hate means bombing massive true love missiles,” Busch explains. “It is also a nice name to kick ass [of the] one dimensional angsthsan,” he adds, before translating that last German word into “milquetoast.”
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Like his art, Busch does not ask simple questions or offer easy answers. His enigmatic aesthetic is matched by his amusing albeit perplexing interpretations of their meaning. “My art is a muscle of communication,” Busch offers by way of explanation, making me wonder just which muscle he is flexing.
—Miss Rosen
New York, 2009
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Book cover courtesy of Dennis Busch