Ronnie Yarisal and Katja Kublitz

Arriving at their studio and workshop in Berlin, Moabit, we recognize many of the pieces we’ve seen on their webpage before. A mock-up of the ‘Fertility Doll’ is there, a ceramic and brass sculpture featuring two jade balls as well as the custom made knuckles of ‘God Is Moody And Color Blind’. The works of Ronnie Yarisal and Katja Kublitz consist of beautiful pieces that could also simply work as well-crafted objects though their meaning is often a lot more saucy that one might get at first glance. Fertility, manhood and sexuality are recurring topics, finding expression in delicate works, blending fragility, beauty, kitsch and craftsmanship.

Both artists studied Art at Central St. Martins College of Art in London where they met and got together. In the beginning they used to work separately before they joined forces for a shared project and realized that they were a perfect match, not only in real-life but also in their artistic practice. Katja Kublitz who is originally from Denmark is the creative source of the couple as she develops the concepts for their common artworks. After carefully sketching the artwork, Ronnie Yarisal works on the implementation of the pieces, developing specific working techniques, collecting raw materials and hand-crafting the sculptures at their workshop. Both talk really passionately about their matter, seemingly very happy with their particular role.

Their latest group of work consists of African-inspired masks that are made of traditional woods, while also including artifacts of our modern world such as a Mercedes-Benz sign or a car refreshener. Katja called it ‘Surfing The Web Without Getting Wet’, as it’s inspired by the experience of surfing the Net, collecting a lot of knowledge in various fields that is usually still rather superficial and can’t be completely reproduced. So they decided to group items together that are taken out of their original context. Besides the internet, Katja Kublitz is also finding inspiration in specialized literature, fiction and her interest in ancient cultures, rituals and cult-objects that often find use in their sculptures. The duo is selling their artworks worldwide, their current Gallery is based in Switzerland. A book containing some of their most precious (and fun) pieces entitled ‘Bling blang, ching chang, give me some of that yin yang’ is available for purchase at Sternberg press.