Stefan on basing his artwork on drawings
Wherever Stefan Marx goes, he brings a pen and paper. The Berlin-based artist draws all the time, wherever he is. Nowadays, he even has a small studio setup that he can take with him when he travels.
Paper, canvas, porcelain, or skateboards and t-shirts – whatever medium, all Stefan Marx’s work is based on drawings.
“It’s how I’ve expressed myself since I was a child. It’s part of my identity,” he says.
So, he lives his life armed with pen and paper. He loves drawing people on the Berlin subway. He draws animals, landscapes, abstract fantasies, and he does a lot of what he calls his typography-based pieces – like the vase and the throw for IKEA Art Event. The lines can come from his favourite lyrics or be phrases from novels he loves.
“I get my inspiration from the things I see, hear and read. I try to look at and listen to things, carefully. And then, sometimes, something good comes out of it.”
Playfulness is at the core of Marx’s work, and he is no stranger to art and functional design coming together. Accessibility is something else he holds high.
“I think it’s fantastic that my vase and throw will be so widely available. I can picture it in all kinds of homes – small and big, on every continent, on planes and boats, in tree houses. There’s no limit.”
Can you tell us more about the vase and the throw for IKEA Art Event 2021?
“I love the vase as an object, how it has no beginning and no end – it’s like a 360-degrees canvas. The typography says ‘I’m sorry’, which is a really nice message, I think. The throw says ‘I wait here for you forever, as long as it takes’. I saw that phrase on a wall many years ago, and it’s been with me ever since.”
IKEA Art Event 2021 is launching during spring 2021.