MYCITY | HAMBURG WITH STEFAN MARX

Artist Stefan Marx developed his distinctive visual language in Hamburg, shaped by the city’s closely connected art, music and independent creative scenes. From early experiments with photocopied party flyers and T-shirts to his long-standing collaboration with Smallville Records and gallery representation with Karin Guenther, Hamburg provided a formative setting for a practice borne of observation and the everyday.
 
Now based in Berlin and travelling frequently for exhibitions and projects, Marx continues to return to Hamburg. Perhaps distance has only sharpened his eye for the qualities that make the city distinct: its understated character, dry humour and self-determined spirit. Answering our MYCITY questions on the road from Japan, he reflects on the people and places that shaped his work, the relationship between art and music, and the details of Hamburg life that continue to catch his eye.

"Hamburg was a great place to try things out wihtout feeling judged too much." Photo by Diana Pfammatter  

Can you describe what Hamburg has given you creatively – are there particular people or places that shaped the way you work?

Hamburg was always a great place to try things out without feeling judged too much. I was lucky enough to study and start to work there before social media, and I loved making flyers for parties in copy shops or doing entire series of drawings on the backs of found flyers. I did this for years, before digital announcements slowly took over. My first experiences with public exhibitions also happened in off-spaces, followed by small gallery spaces, until my main gallery, Karin Guenther, started working with me in 2008. Her gallery is at Admiralitätstraße 71, which has become an important hub for contemporary art galleries in Hamburg. What has always felt quite special about Hamburg is how closely the music and art scenes are connected, they naturally overlap, I really admired that.

You have a close connection to Smallville and have shaped the visual language of the label and record shop from the beginning. How important has that relationship or music in general been as a space for developing your work?

Quite important, I always loved the idea of record covers by artists, there is a beautiful history it in the music and art world. When there were plans to release records out of the Smallville Records shop as a label, the founders Stella Plazonja, Peter Kersten and Julius Steinhoff were in into the idea of the record cover as an artist edition. All the information and liner notes are on the back cover, the front only shows a work of mine without mentioning the musician or record title. Now, like 21 years later we have a fantastic collection. And yes, every release is giving space for a recent work.  Music in general has always been a very natural space for my drawings. I like that a record cover becomes part of somebody’s life. You listen to the music, the sleeve lies around your apartment, you take it somewhere. The drawing has a different kind of life than something that uniquely exists in an exhibition.

"I'm interested in very ordinary things, ... , things you over hear on the street or on public transport."

Observation seems central to your practice – people, overheard phrases and small details of everyday life find their way into your drawings. Having spent time in different cities, do you find that particular things that catch your attention? What do you notice in Hamburg?

When discovering new cities, I’m always curious about language, images, sceneries and a general observation of people. I try to draw as much as possible then, but also just take it as a flaneur. Every city has its own rhythm and its own way of communicating. I’m interested in very ordinary things, how people talk to each other, what they write on signs, what someone is wearing, things you overhear on the street or on public transport. In Hamburg I always notice a certain understatement. People can be quite reserved, but at the same time very funny and direct. I like this contrast and it took me a while back then moving to the city to understand it. There is also something about the weather, the scenery, the grey sky and the openness of the city that I still associate very strongly with Hamburg.


Hamburg can appear restrained on the surface, while underneath there is a strong history of independent culture, music and political expression. Has that influenced your own style/work?

Yes, definitely. I think I’ve always liked things that don’t announce themselves too loudly. Something can be very simple or quiet and still have a strong position. Hamburg has a tradition of people doing things independently, often on quite a small scale, but with a lot of conviction. Maybe that influenced me more than I realized at the time. I like drawings that look immediate and simple but that can carry something more complicated underneath.

"I've always liked things that don't announce themselves to loudly."

Your drawings move easily between artworks and objects that become part of everyday life – books, records, clothes, skateboards. Does it change your approach when you know that something you create will be worn, carried or lived with?

I mostly select existing drawings or paintings for those projects, working a lot on artist books and record covers, I approach those with the drawings and topics I want to communicate through the medium. I still love to think in T-Shirts, a practice I discovered very early in life, but hasn’t lost it fascination. I have a huge archive of the T-Shirts I’ve done in the last decades.


You’re already a MYKITA wearer. What draws you to a particular pair of glasses – is it primarily about design and proportion, or do you think of eyewear as part of your personal style?

For me it’s mostly about proportion and how natural the glasses feel when I wear them. I don’t want to think about them too much once I have them on. But of course, glasses become part of your face, so they are probably one of the most personal things you can wear. What I like about MYKITA is that the design can be very precise and distinctive without being too loud. I think that balance is quite difficult to achieve.

"I like drawings that look immediate and simple but that can carry something more complicated underneath." Photo by Diana Pfammatter

If you were to make a drawing of Hamburg today, what would have to be in it?

Maybe a person in the subway, some rain, a bored dog, umbrellas, when I’m there I love to draw the buildings I visited regularly while living there back then, maybe a quote of my gallerist Karin Guenther. 

We thank you for sharing your time and perspective.