Jocks of the market say the truth is out there

FEDERICO MONSALVE meets a pair of Swiss 'art jockeys' who mix samples from classic and contemporary culture to create their brand of spin.

Getting through to Swiss conceptual artists Com & Com isn't easy. In the hotel lobby I have to negotiate a long line of 16- to 25-year-old fans, all waving cameras, booklets and posters, before reaching this dynamic duo of the art world.

"It's amazing how far we have gotten without any real artwork," says Com & Com's Marcus Gossolt, dismissing another groupie who seemed to have more than an autograph on her mind.

The pair are in New Plymouth (after showing their work at the Venice Biennale) to exhibit C Files: The Tell Saga, a movie based on American TV sci fi drama The X-Files.

The couple call themselves AJs (Art Jockeys) to describe their method of mixing images and concepts from the classical art world and contemporary kitsch to create their own pieces.

"You can say there is nothing new under the sun, so we use good marketing," says Johannes Hedinger, the other half of Com & Com.

"The idea started as a tour bus taking people around different shows and at the end we would sell them our work, but the pieces were actually stuff that looked just like any everyday object you find in Switzerland. So we made chairs and pots and sold them as art," continues Gossolt.

From there the pair delved deeper into exploring the gap between commercialism and art. "We have made a catalogue completely devoted to ourselves and to Com & Com products that you can order. Even the ads have us in them ... we made a photo-novel adaptation of Homer's Odyssey which borrows a lot from the TV show Baywatch and was shot in all the original Greek spots Homer mentions," says Hedinger.

Com & Com (Commercial Communication) is run like a company and has a fairly standard corporate structure. Its impressive list of business and art partners ranges from TV and internet companies to Coca-Cola Corporation and Mercedes Benz.

These enfants terribles of the conceptual art world sit on the fence between art and business, pick and choose from both and mock either of them as they please.

When asked if they were considered sell-outs by people in the artistic circles in Switzerland they mentioned that some did, but that was the beauty of it.

"Our work does have elements of parody, and irony, but definitely not cynicism," says Hedinger. "We enjoy that ambiguity. People are never sure if we are making fun of art, of the commercial aspect of it, or if we are being completely serious. Even a lawyer from Absolut Vodka has sent us a letter telling us not to use their identity or name ever again, and Absolut is a company that takes pride in helping artists."

When asked which artists they think they resemble most, there was unanimous agreement: "Duchamp, Warhol ... Robbie Williams, yeah, definitely Robbie Williams."

They call themselves a "label", dress like rock stars, refuse to take their sunglasses off during the interview and openly worship their own logo and faces. "Since the Biennale we have made a shrine to ourselves in Turin, big sculptures of us," says Gossolt.

But looking at the accomplishments of these two it is obvious their publicity campaigns and rock and roll stunts are not elaborate excuses for a lack of talent.

Com & Com has an impressive list of exhibits which includes shows in New York, Berlin and Japan; and Hedinger will travel to LA on an art scholarship to UCLA.

"This might be turning into the post of Visiting Artists very soon," Hedinger says.

While the film they have brought to New Zealand is a movie based on The X-Files, "the story is a Swiss one and borrows from William Tell and Schiller," says Hedinger.

C-Files includes a promotional trailer for itself, a lengthy behind-the-scenes look at the project, a published copy of the script, and Academy Award winner H. R. Giger (creator of Aliens) as part of the cast.

But the project's punchline is one that follows this pair through most of their career. For Com & Com the marketing of the art work seems to be more important than the work itself and they are now putting themselves on film to prove it.

One can say they are an illusion. Maybe the fans in the hotel were hired. The truth is out there.

* C-Files: The Tell Saga is presented in association with Feature: art, life and cinema at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery in New Plymouth. Feature includes work by Julie Becker and Christian Marclay, Tracey Moffatt, Ann Shelton, Jim Speers and Mary-Louise Browne, and runs until January 28.