11. Episode:  Steffen Mumm // Art and productivity

Creative paper chase

Steffen Mumm is an artist. He works with canvases, spray cans and printing plates. He makes signet rings, socks and silk cloths; he loves Bullet Journals, sketchbooks and notebooks. He makes notes in advance of everything he draws, paints and produces. Is this madness? No, creativity!

Your work is a blend of graffiti, calligraphy, illustration and painting.

Graffiti was a big part of my life, but it hardly happens any more. My “Heads” – the faces I’ve been working intensively on over the past five years – are now the essence I’ve distilled from all that.

Do you draw your works in notebooks first?

It varies. I do sketch in notebooks a lot, but I also work digitally on the iPad. Sometimes I just grab a scrap of paper that’s lying around. It depends on what’s within reach.

How do your notes move from scraps or notebooks onto large paper or canvas?

That varies too. One possible way is that I sketch an idea roughly in the notebook, then develop it in a digital drawing program and put the result on canvas. The digital medium is good for testing colours. But intuitive scribbling works best on paper.

Your “Heads” consist of just a few lines. How frugal or generous are you in your notebooks?

Because I often work very fast, I use up a lot of paper. That’s the price I pay for the way I work. But in my notebooks, I’m more careful about space. I work in a more focused way there, for example when I’m making drawings for sculptures – I don’t necessarily fill up page after page.

Do you think in words or in images?

Whenever it’s about art, I’m thinking in images. Putting thoughts into words isn’t my world, except on a private basis when I’m writing my diary. My “Heads” speak an international language without speaking. You understand immediately, “Ah, that’s a face.” Everything else then comes to fruition in the beholder – without my interference.

How do you think handwriting and sprayed writing differ?

What’s interesting about working with the spray can is that there’s no resistance, like there is when you’re writing on paper. That makes it very free; I’m writing and creating with my body. When I write by hand, it’s subtler, closer, more intimate. The can is more extravert; the pencil tends inward.

When you work with a pencil, do you have preferences, for instance about the paper?

For notebooks, I prefer smooth paper and dotted pages. I use a propelling pencil, which I also sketch with. I can only plan out my life with a pencil.

Why a pencil?

Because something always changes, and that changes the planning too. By nature, a pencil is ephemeral and soft. And that makes writing and sketching with a pencil pleasant, even inviting.

You’ve been using Bullet Journals for many years. Why is that?

The Bullet Journal is like my brain. Everything I think, plan, undertake and endeavour, starts out in the book. I even write in the front that I’ll pay a 200 Euro reward to anyone who finds it. (Laughs)

You write diaries too?

Yes. It’s my routine, every evening, and has been since I started during a personal crisis. I have the book lying by my bed, and writing the entry is my last act of the day. I keep the diaries separately from the sketchbooks and Bullet Journals. I used to also keep a gratitude diary. But that practice turned into an everyday routine that I’ve converted into thoughts.

What do you get out of writing the diary?

Over time, I’ve understood that it’s not about conserving anything. I write diaries to let things out, reflect on them and at the same time, let them go. That all happens virtually at once.

Is there a diary that you keep as a treasure?

No. I don’t like attaching myself to material things too much. Years ago, when asked what I’d take with me if my home burned down, I answered, “My diaries”. I see it differently now. I think I’m good at letting things go. That applies to my notebooks too.

Steffen Mumm

Steffen Mumm, 34, lives and works as an artist in Düsseldorf. After training as a mechatronics engineer, he studied design at Krefeld University of Applied Sciences (specialising in calligraphy and illustration). He then became a freelance artist and took the pseudonym “Hoker”, quickly winning commissions for graffiti and paintings in and around the city – his designs can be seen on exterior walls in Düsseldorf and Krefeld.

Since 2019, Mumm has been focusing on painting, printing, sculpture and the artistic design of everyday objects. Hence, his “Heads” can also be seen adorning vases, signet rings, socks and silk cloths, which he markets himself under his own label, “Studio Mumm”. He is represented in Düsseldorf by the gallery Kunst & Denker Contemporary. Steffen Mumm’s works form part of international collections and museums.