PASTAMASTA MARKUS SCHMOELZ

Born 1953 in Munich, studies of ancient and new languages, art history, cultural anthropology, photography.
Work as translator, interpreter, photographer; co-founder of the Spotnik Studio of Photography, Munich.
As of late 1970s designing and publishing fanzines, calendars, buttons and stickers.
Early 1980s: founding of the mail-art group Bizarr, doing unique copies and “throw-away art” (in order to deconstruct the meaning of original piece of art).
Influenced by the visual culture prevailing at the time: punk art, New Wave, graffiti and street art, new ways of typographing and Xerox printing.
From 1983 on change to producing multiples which were made under the condition that no father of those multiples shall exist and the multiples together form the original (“democratic art”).

This eventually led to a unique card/art publishing company, “Bizarrverlag”, co-founded by Sissa Marquardt.
Production of audio art (“Audio Tours”, taped street sounds) and video art (“Extreme Art”), editing of books and most of all publishing postcards.
From 1985 on fascination with OP Art and Moiree art eventually resulted in the creation of the famous interactive, psychedelic Turning Cards, which have continuously been developed and refined ever since.

From 1986 on publishing of other artists’ work on postcards and calendars, among them artists such as Pierre & Gilles, Jim Avignon, Kazuko Miyamoto, Charles Gatewood, Kenneth Anger, Irwing Klaw, Shag, to name a few.

From 1988 on collaboration with New-York-based Gallery 128 owned and curated by Kazuko Miyamoto.

The work was included in opening credits for movies, theater coulisse, used for interior design of museum gift shops, flyers, advertisments and on record sleeves.

The Turning Cards, which include precise geometrical patterns like in Op Art and Minimal Art, but contain complex, kinetic ornaments, making the cards seem almost magical when spun by hand, are meanwhile sold in museum stores all over the world.

Kazuko Miyamoto, artist and curator/owner Gallery 128, NYC:
„His work sits squarely on the fence between love for Pop-Art, Op-Art and a darker satire, that takes one out of comfortable dreams.“

In an interview with German design magazin form&zweck (issue 45/1992):
Editor-in-chief Angelika Petruschat:
So you would say, your cards are the visual carrier of messages?
MS: No, the card is the message

Juergen Kolbe, head of cultural division of the City of Munich and curator on the occasion of EXPANDED PHOTOGRAPHY show at Lothringer 13 gallery in 1984:
Markus Schmoelz has a uniquely humorous and almost ruthlessly direct mode of manipulating photography in order to make them part of his artistic universe. In no way does he hide the manipulation, rejecting all kind of perfection as vain in correspondence with his creed: „If I want a person on my photo to wear a red shit, I colour it red.“