An artist should be crazy and die young. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. Van Gogh was of course good at painting, but he was also good at cutting off half his ear, sticking it in newspaper and giving it to a prostitute. From there it was a short trip to the mental asylum and then suicide at 37. 

Andreas Kock is already 42 and both his ears are still intact. 

12 years ago he used to work as an art director in the Ad-industry. He drove around in a Jaguar XJ12, without a license, had a somewhat erratic temper, and took a pretty liberal stance on using chemical stimulants.

If he wasn’t bonkers, he was certainly‚ well, uninhibited. 

He was also increasingly preoccupied on becoming a photographer. Photographers he hired were at best tools to get the job done, and at worst, a necessary evil. 

When he was asked by BON Magazine to photograph a fashion feature, all pieces fell into place. Controlling the entire process from inception to finished product was just as good, sexy and creative as he had thought. And on top of it all: he was a lot better at being a photographer than he was at being an art director.

Today he is since almost 10 years an established fashion and art photographer. His photographs have been featured in many of the leading fashion publications, he works commercially for a bunch of internationally renowned fashion houses and successfully sell out his art editions throughout the major European auction houses. 

And so we return to a simple question: “Is Andreas Kock an artist?”

Not if you ask Andreas. He sees himself as a fashion photographer, who does special assignments and whatever, blah, blah, blah; and if a gallery wants to show his work, then fine. 

The funny thing about this answer is that it defines him as an artist – since he’s quite clearly crazy.