martin schmidt (NOTPAPER (a blog about collage))

I really love Martin's collages, which combine a feel of 1900s era industrialism with a bit of whimsy. He has some collages with colour, but I chose these, because I love the simplicity and the strong effect that the aged backgrounds have on the collages.

Name (Real or Screename): Martin Schmidt
URL (Blog, Website): www.flickr.com/photos/miau_wau_wau
Location (Where are you from?): Offenbach, it's near Frankfurt in Germany

Q: Describe your work in 10 words or less.
A: It's something humourous and mysterious between nature and technology.

Q: What do you like to work with (magazines, photographs, vintage)? Be specific!
A: I like to work with old material. Most of my collages are made from prints from an old German encyclopedia. In some other pieces I arranged them or other old scientific illustrations with bright colored, geometric shapes. I also use material I found in three boxes in an attic some time ago. They contained many old photographs, letters and postcards and some old souvenirs like tickets for trains. This is a bizarre documentation of a family from about 1890 till 1970.

Q: How long have you been creating collages and what made you start?
A: I think I started one or two years ago and the reason was just that I wanted to study illustration, so I made my first collages for my portfolio.

Q: Do you have any formal art training?
A: I just started to study at a very nice design university in Offenbach in Fall 2008.

Q: Explain your favourite techniques.
A: Mostly I spread all my material (about 200 already precut pieces) on my desktop and then I just look at these and after a while I begin to combine the different pieces. The result is mostly very straight and clear. Often the collages are telling a small story because the viewer has to wonder about the situation I created.

Q: Describe your favourite piece ever created.
A: I don't have a favourite piece at the moment because this changes often.

Q: What other artists do you admire?
A: Mostly I like artists I found via flickr like the pearpicker, ghostpatrol, Andy Kehoe or Maxwell Loren Holyoke Hirsch. Annother artist I really like is the German illustrator Anke Feuchtenberger. From the more classical artists I like the work of Max Ernst, Kurt Schwitters and Daniel Spoerri.

Thanks Martin!