From record-breaking auction sales, to a burgeoning Chinese market, the art world of late has been anything but boring. Talk of the bubble-on-the-brink-of-bursting market has only increased during recent months— especially when viewed with regard to the similarly unsustainable art market of the 1980s.

Nowhere was this excess more apparent than Art Basel Miami 2007, where drug use, all-night partying, and expendable incomes are as countless as grains of sand in South Beach. The excess was epitomized in works from Comenius Roethlisberger’s "dearest constellation, sweetest invitation” series— individual pieces of polyester resin embellished with cocaine residue, dutifully applied atop luxury logos (Chanel, Dior and Gucci to name a few). PsychoPEDIA spoke with the Swiss-born and based artist, whose work can be seen in Saatchi's online gallery, about cocaine, Karl Lagerfeld, and the relationship between art and fashion:

What were your overall impressions of Art Basel this year?
[It was] actually quite good; but too little [work was] provocative. I would have liked to see more works from Swiss artists like Fischli/Weiss and Roman Signer. I miss [there being] humor in the works. For example, Gianni Mottis’ work— made from excess fat from the Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi— “mani pulite”, which means “clean hands”.

Tell me about the conception of the Cocaine/Chanel and Cocaine/Gucci and Dior pieces?
Do I need to explain? Fashion and cocaine? For me, the most interesting part of the work was buying the cocaine from Black Africans on my street. With the money earned, the dealers immediately bought Gucci, Prada and Dior clothes. Status Quo par excellence. I like it when Kate Moss gets sacked from her label for cocaine abuse and 5 minutes later she gets the even better deal from Burberry.

How did people react to the work?
The reactions were very positive, but fierce. Of course, the buyer asked himself whether or not there really was cocaine in the “dearest constellation, sweetest innovation” works. But, for me, the work would have made no sense if I didn‘t use cocaine. In Mottis’ work, for example, I don‘t care if he really used Berlusconi‘s fat or not. The brilliant idea and the realization is enough for me. The viewer gives more thought to cocaine, which is illegal. However, I do worry if Chanel or Dior will discover that I used their logos 1:1. These protected logos have more power than you think.

What was your best experience involving cocaine, and your worst?
There are no bad experiences. The best was, for some time I consumed cocaine. And even better, is that I‘ve stopped.

Do you think that your Swiss background comes into play at all with regard to the aforementioned pieces (specifically, perhaps with regard to neutrality)?
No, I would have still done this work as an American or a Chinese. The neutrality issue plays no role.

Who would you rather do cocaine with, Tom Ford or Karl Lagerfeld? Clearly Karl Lagerfeld— a highly intelligent man with a huge portion of humor and honesty. But, since neither I, nor he, are consumers of this drug. We would rather have a conversation with a glass of Coke Light and steamed fish.

How do you see fashion’s current relationship with art?
Fashion includes almost everything: design, clothing, music, cars, art and so on. It is no different than before, the speed has only changed. But, clearly, whoever can afford haute couture from Dior, is certainly well-stocked with art. Fashion and art belong together, because [each is] a creative process. You develop, invent and bring different things to a common denominator. For me, art has more questions than answers. What interests me personally, are bringing everyday things together. In this case, fashion and cocaine. Nobody wants to see the connection, besides the magazine Gala or People.

What is your interpretation of society’s current obsession with icons and symbols?
I should forward this question to a sociologist or a marketing director. However, a very interesting question.

What’s next for you?
For some time now I’ve been working on a photographic project named Histories and Abstract, where I photograph blank walls with a large-format camera across the world. For example, the band room of Metallica, the children‘s room of Björk in Iceland, Wolfgang Tillmans’ darkroom. This work will follow me for a bit longer. A recent work is a self-portrait with my own blood on laid paper. Another work is letting big, ancient, arduously detailed reconstructed “Model Building Boats” made from amateur DIY‘ers (working up to 2,000 hours) sink in water and then photograph them. I have a few projects, which will probably not be realizable budget-wise… not even with the money Damian Hirst has in his account. I think I do have work for the next 10 years. Let‘s see what will be implemented.

~Alisa Gould-Simon