Max Marek

Max Marek (born July 30, 1957 in New York ) is a German painter , illustrator and paper cutting artist . He lives in Berlin .

family

Max Marek was born in New York and grew up in Woodstock . He is the son of the German journalist and non-fiction author Kurt W. Marek, who achieved world fame under the pseudonym C. W. Ceram with the book "Götter, Gräber und Schehre". His mother Hannelore Marek was a stage and costume designer. In 1970 the family returned to Germany and settled in Hamburg , where Max Marek graduated from high school in 1977.

Education and career

In 1977 Marek began training as an illustrator and fashion draftsman in Paris. He worked there from 1979 to 1981 for various magazines before returning to Hamburg, where he began to paint. Between 1982 and 1986 he experimented with a wide variety of techniques, such as oil painting, lithography and small sculptures. During this time his works could be seen in the first exhibitions, and he published the first artist books in small editions. From the beginning, however, he kept making silhouettes , which ultimately became a central theme of his work.

From the late 1980s onwards, Marek became more and more interested in dance theater . His photo series "Posing Dances" has been included in the German Dance Archive in Cologne. Marek drew for several days during Pina Bausch's rehearsals for “ Iphigenie auf Tauris ” in Wuppertal . Two dance theater sketchbooks are in the Dance Collection of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center .

Marek created theater posters for the Theater im Zimmer in Hamburg and the Folkwang dance studio in Essen . His paper cuts have been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions. Since the mid-1990s he has been one of the prominent German artists of this genre. Works by Max Marek can be found in numerous public collections in Hamburg, Berlin , Cologne , Essen, Munich and New York.

After a guest scholarship in 1998 at "ISART" in Montréal, Marek settled in Berlin, where he has lived and worked ever since.

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions (selection)

• 1984: Ombres dans la Ville. Paris, Association Irreguliers
• 1984: nightshade. Hamburg, Galerie Form und Funktion
• 1985: Only trouble during the day and the pigs glow at night. Hamburg, Galerie Form und Funktion
• 1987: Munich, Harmstorf Gallery
• 1989: Tainted Burden. Hamburg, Jensen Gallery
• 1990: The skin's memory. Hamburg, Jensen Gallery
• 1990: Sisters divided. Munich, Galerie Hierling
• 1991: Tatovering. Horsens (Denmark), Asbæk Gallery
• 1993: La Mémoire de la Peau. Paris, Gand Gallery
• 1994: Grammar of the Meat. Agathenburg, Agathenburg Castle
• 1995: Mechanics of Silence. Hamburg, Jensen Gallery
• 1997: paper cuts. Hamburg, Jensen Gallery
• 1997: Paper cuts & screen prints. Cologne, Seippel Gallery
• 1999: Art associations: Husum, Tauberbischofsheim, Erlangen
• 2002: Syntax of the Body. Hamburg, Galerie Meiner
• 2003: Papercuts & Other Sharp Edges. Hamburg, Museum of Arts and Crafts, Book Art Forum of the Gerd Bucerius Library
• 2003: Lost Forms and Headsets. Cologne, Seippel Gallery
• 2004: New cardboard cuts & artist books. Hamburg, Galerie Meiner
• 2012: Max Marek implants. Paper cuts & artist books. Frankfurt am Main, Art Library - Städel Library

Group exhibitions (selection)

• 1983: dye bath. Hamburg, Barlach Gallery
• 1984: Art from Hamburg. Laren (Netherlands)
• 1994: Strasbourg, Premier Salon International d'Art Contemporain, Galerie Gand
• 1994: collages and drawings. Cologne, Seippel Gallery, Summer Gallery 1
• 1994: Northwest Art - Hand Drawings & Graphics. Wilhelmshaven, art gallery
• 1995: Cologne - New York - New York - Cologne. Cologne, Seippel Gallery
• 1996: Positions of figurative painting. Cologne, Seippel Gallery
• 2000: body contours. Langenberg, Kunsthaus
• 2000: Art fairs: Buenos Aires, Cologne, Berlin
• 2001: editions. Berlin, Kramm & Gürtler
• 2002: artist books. Munich, Katia Rid Gallery
• 2003: cross sections. Chemnitz, Lichtenwalde Castle, German Paper Cutting Museum

Web links

• Literature by and about Max Marek in the catalog of the German National Library
• Max Marek's website
• Max Marek at the German Paper Cutting Association