Hypoluxe Designs

The Artistry of Jim Kurtz

 

by Vicki Merbler

 

 

Walking towards the door of the studio I experience-- precision bliss. For a moment I pause outside wanting to remember beautiful music and the sweet fragrance of spring blossoms. The music surrounds me as I enter. This is an introduction to the world of one man, Jim Kurtz, who has had the ability and vision to combine multi-art forms into one unique place. To see a harp standing alone is a visual treat, to see a man playing one simultaneously with the keyboard is quite another.

But the journey does not end there.

In addition are his paintings, furniture design, and sculpture which the visitor may explore while listening to original music. Then there are the gemstones, minerals and jewelry--a collection that Jim has handpicked from the earth thanks to his knowledge of geography.

But the music is not just any music, perhaps because it is a sound that consumes the senses. In this luxury of tone heaven has descended to earth and placed a lovely kiss on the soul.

I introduce, at a rare moment, the artistry and personhood of Jim Kurtz.

 

Merbler: Can you tell us how you got started in the arts?

 

Kurtz:  As you know Vicki I have been a life long artist. I started out at the tender age of three or four while living in Europe. I was trained by masters in the family in the areas of design, engineering, blueprints, painting, color and light perspective, music. That is what I have been doing all my life. Now I am at the level where I call what I do and that is, Hypolux Designs. That is not ultra luxurious, that is like luxury out of control. I have traveled all of the castles and palaces of Europe. I have investigated all my life the highest forms of art and design that can be found. That is I have also been searching and creating atmospheres worth living in. As you know I have been in Miami in the Arts and Design District. It is an absolutely extraordinary place. I cannot begin to describe it. You just have to see it to appreciate how incredible it is. I have spent many months down there playing two or three gigs a day, not finishing until 3 or 4 in the morning. The Cuban and Latino music is phenomenal and the dancing is unbelievable.

 

Merbler:  You seem to do such a wide spectrum of music... is there any part of music that you cannot do?

 

Kurtz:  No, I wouldn’t put it like that, there are some things I cannot do. I have to say that my music comes from my heart, that it is inspired somehow by God. There are times that no matter what I do, I can’t seem to pull it forth. But then most of the time, especially in the right environment and the right people around, my God, it just seems to explode, it is overwhelming.

 

Merbler:  So the people around you enhance what is already there inside of you, is that it?

 

Kurtz:  Right, you pick up on the energy of the people who are around you and are very positive and you go with it. Then it starts spiraling and growing, uh, with Carlos Roberto in Vero Beach, Florida for example uh…

 

Merbler:  Excuse me; tell me who this is please.

 

Kurtz:  He is a Brazilian artist from the capital city of Brazil, called Brasília. He plays in New York, South Florida and Brazil; he is a world musician, but a brilliant guitarist, percussionist, and everything Brazilian. So this guy looks at me and says look there is nothing going on here in Vero Beach on a Monday so let’s go down to Miami. So we make stops and he begins to introduce me to all these people along the way especially in the West Palm Beach area. But he was trying to get up with some fellow named Jude who he had not seen for two or three years and he lost his number.  He called a third party and fifteen minutes later the phone rang and he has a number for Jude. So he says, hey Jude this is Carlos, remember when we played together at this club and that club two or three years ago, I have a friend I want you to meet. He introduces me as a German-American harpist and keyboardist and says he would like for us to meet, and Jude says well, come on. So we go over and this club is just on the north fringe of the Arts and Design District of Miami. We get there and there is a huge gallery with all these paintings in kind of a Voo Doo style, a very high end style, nothing trashy at all about this. Well, the next room we go into is all furnishings, the next is all photography, then the next room is all sculpture. Finally it ends up in this huge room which has a giant dance floor in the middle, a ten foot high stage, and a sound booth room. I took pictures of this too; you will have to see them. And there is Jude standing there, a very refined gentleman. He says we are going to have a crowd here pretty soon. We got up there and played until three in the morning. Then after that Carlos says, Jim I have to tell you something and I don’t want you to get upset. So I say, well then what? He says, well, this is not the same Jude. Well, then where the hell is he? He goes, I have no earthly idea, but lets go with this, this is a good scene here you know. So the sun is coming up it is about 7am and I am asleep on my blow-up mattress. I hadn’t slept for more than an hour or so and here is Carlos waking me up saying, man there is a scene down in Coconut Grove and we got to go there. And that is the way my days went for quite awhile. I got by on one or two hours of sleep and there we were playing again. It was a very energetic, very exciting, very inspiring artistically enthusiastic boost to say the least. One I had needed for a long time. But getting back to this, I have been an upholsterer, a designer, a decorator, architecture from ceiling to floors. In the future I am going to concentrate on more design, creating an overall effect that is just worth living in.

 

Merbler:  And, if you would please, share with us some of the work you have done on planes?

 

Kurtz:  Oh yes, I have done all kinds of work on aircraft, private work on jets for luminaries. I have got first place in international shows on the work I have done with the interiors of planes. I stopped off in Charleston last month and did a high quality design job there for a friend from New York. And it has already got first place in its first show. Nothing but the finest high dollar ultra suede from California, exquisite leathers and wood…really nice, you see. My favorite art scheme is Art Deco and Art Nouveau. You don’t see it very much, but in my opinion it is the highest level of art that has been achieved in the last thousand years. Both of these went worldwide, but Art Nouveau was in France in the 1890s, Art Deco United States, 1920s. You know I collect Atkinson Fox prints. He painted from 1865 to 1930 and he was a prolific and fabulous painter. A printing process was finally developed to make accurate reproductions and companies all over the world used his art, from advertising on soap to you-name-it, there was his work. So therefore let’s say a million of these prints got made up. And today there are a number of people who collect his work especially here in the Midwest, not so much here. But nonetheless, I have been collecting his prints and setting up a little museum of those.

 

Merbler:  And how did your sculpture come about, for example that large Greek Sphinx in the corner that is all lit up?

 

Kurtz:  Well, you know I have always liked it, so in the last years I have been playing with camera-ready movie-set type sculpture, which is a lot faster than working with stone or bronze. So today we have plastic resins and a copy of one of these can be made, say five thousand or more of them in resin. It is an opportunity for artists to really put their work out there in resin form.

 

Merbler:  Now you have done that and also you have a new CD out. What is the name of it and how can people get a copy of it?

 

Kurtz:  Yes, the name of the CD is “Moonbeams and Starlight.” It is still a work in process. Most of my work is done live, as you know, and I am still toying around with it, but it is ready for release now. People can just call me and get it at the studio. As an artist it is like, you never finish a painting, right? Just call me.

 

Merbler:  Because you are a multi-faceted artist, how many things would you say you are working on in one week?

 

Kurtz:  It depends. For example if there is a chance to collect on that one thing, then that is what I will be working on until it is finished. But, yes, there have been many times where I would work six hours on this, six hours on that, sleep, work more on this other thing for another twelve hours--yes, that happens. For example presently I am working on the backyard with a whole design in mind, also those Versailles Urns you see over there. I have some finished things on upcoming recordings. It is a battle to focus in on one particular thing and get in perfectly embellished the way I feel it should be finished. Life is so short and there are so many things to do, and I am determined to get these things done before it is over. This is a new concept here. People can come by here and if they are interested in seeing something fresh, new, and exciting they just might find it here. Even other artists might find inspiration here, because there are higher and higher levels of expression. This is home base for me. But now I am free to travel every summer and winter. I will be doing more design work in the future. I am working with Italian Grotto in the back yard and many other things involving leather and chrome. 

 

Merbler:  If there was one thing you could do or say is your favorite work, what would it be?

 

Kurtz:  That would be painting. If can see something with a vision, then I want to make it real to touch and see. But music makes everything seem better in a world full of war and destruction. I love to make sound and have it flow inside and out to someone else, it brightens my day.

 

And with that our interview came to an end.

 I received an unexpected gift upon leaving. It was serenity. It covered my shoulders like a blanket of angels that would stay for a while. Perhaps a touch of the harp strings would rein them back to the studio. Perhaps the angels would simply know without a note, maybe it would be just an innocent thought like mine outside the doors on that warm day. Nonetheless, they would know when it is time to revisit the studio at Leland, N.C. and hitch a ride upon the shoulders of the next person who would enter and leave Hypoluxe Designs.

 And that is all I can say--except that the wonderful mind and talents of Jim Kurtz for now are here and not somewhere else. Should you decide to include this stop on your list of places to visit, take your time and enjoy the flowers and scents of our backyards and the people who are living in them. You may call Jim at 910-200-4751. Enjoy.