Plus One presents the first Belgian solo exhibition of German artist Stefan Marx
Plus One gallery presents Feelings aren’t final, the first solo exhibition of German artist Stefan Marx (b. 1979) in Belgium. Marx unpretentiously calls himself a painter. He was educated by skate culture in his early teens, and is now the creator of a vast artistic universe, characterized by humorous line drawings of people, animals, and landscapes. His art elegantly moves between the DIY culture over to fine arts, while simultaneously transporting the values of the skateboarding scene. He loves to observe his surroundings, especially when traveling: his drawings, sometimes backed up by witty citations stemming from overheard conversations, local typography or song lyrics, compile his journey diary. His quirky renderings of people, animals, landscapes and even airplanes are composed of pure, simple line work, revealing a sense of immediacy behind their naive aesthetic.
The exhibition at PLUS-ONE presents his latest series of travel drawings, which were produced last September in New York during his visit to the city’s renowned Art Book Fair. Marx’s delineations of this ‘melting pot of crazyness’, as he calls the metropolis and its colorful inhabitants, oscillate between wonder, kind irony and a hint of playful absurdity.
Stefan Marx is always seeking for ways to multiply his work on different surfaces. Democratically available media such as skateboards, record covers, flower vases and tattoos have by now all been carriers of his characteristic style and wit. The wish to provide greater access to (his) art, has also sparked the creation of various self-published artist books or ‘zines’, which, unlike the regular artist catalogues, are everything but a flat, copy-printed summing-up of an oeuvre.
This layered experiment, of which the outcome is never fully controllable nor predictable, contrasts with the stripped back and direct nature of his drawn figurations. It is exactly this contrast that comes into play in Feelings aren’t final, Marx’s first solo-exhibition on Belgian territory.
Stefan Marx: Feelings aren't final
17 November — 17 December
Plus One gallery
Sint-Hubertusstraat 58+
2600 Berchem — Belgium
Opening: 17 November 2016, 18:00
Open from Wednesday till Saterday from 14h - 18hOn the occasion of the exhibition, Plus One and Stefan Marx will make a special publication.
H-res images here
Stefan Marx
Stefan Marx’s work has been included in many individual and collective shows at galleries and other art institutions throughout the world, including Ruttkowski;68, Cologne, Germany; Art Park, Byron Bay, Australia; Kunstverein Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany; Colette, Paris; Kasseler Kunstverein, Kassel, Germany; Galerie Ute Parduhn, Düsseldorf, Germany; Now Idea, Tokyo, Japan; Primetime, NYC, USA;...
