MARKUS WEISBECK

Born 1965 in Offenburg, Germany
Lives and works in Frankfurt am Main and Berlin 

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In certain circumstances, typography may even be art. That was the insight Kurt Schwitter arrived at in 1930. Before Schwitters' day, typography was devoted to a single goal: the visualization of linguistic content. (...) The circumstances have changed. In the era of their digital employment, font design and typography, as instruments of visual communication, face a merciless compulsion to innovate. As typography engages in wild escapades, people are less and less interested in reading, while more is being written and published than ever. Now is not the time for art.

And then someone comes along and, with analogue deliberateness, paints simple messages and turns of phrase in plain letters on canvas, shrouding them in gentle colors and a carpet of shapes, that makes you think of christmas: that takes a healthy dose of irony, especially since the author is considered a pioneer of digital communication. (taken from: Lars Müller 'Do the Stars Need a Reason to Shine' in Markus Weisbeck: Surface, Monograph, SternbergPress NYC, 2011)

Markus Weisbeck
HSLC
2009
Inkjet Print on Wood
100 x 150 cm / 39,4 x 59 in