SLAMXHYPE recently caught up with German street artists Frerk and Marc C. Woehr. We first came across the pair at Art Basel Miami, where they were painting a mural alongside Shepard Fairey during the street art event Primary Flight. Learn a bit more about this awesome duo before their first LA show, which opens at Carmichael Gallery tonight.
SlamxHype: Can you tell us a bit about where you are from?
Frerk: I´m from Stuttgart – the city of cars, you know, Benz, Porsche etc.
Marc C. Woehr: I come from a small German town, Neckarsulm, which was just totally dead, you know? I spent a lot of time with my buddies just hanging out on the street. When hip hop made it from the US over to us I got inspired. I started to skate and draw graffiti.
SlamxHype: What did you want to be when you were a child?
Frerk: Truck driver.
Marc C. Woehr: It has always been my greatest dream to be an artist who can actually make a living from his art.
Marc C Woehr "Dark Nights" Mixed on Wood
SlamxHype: How did you get your first breakthrough?
Marc C. Woehr: I had my first breakthrough in 1996 in Heilbronn. It was the largest (back then) underground parking lot to have been painted with spray cans in Baden Württemberg.
Frerk: Then Marc and I were invited to create a painting for the Creative Boat Party during Art Basel last year. The next big step was drawing at Primary Flight/Art Basel Miami with Obey, Blek Le Rat, etc.
SlamxHype: Where do you find inspiration and influence on a daily basis?
Frerk: News. Looking at people and daily life. Walking through the streets. Intensely thinking. For me it’s important to absorb everything – mostly the small and quiet things in life.
Frerk and Marc C. Woehr Collaboration Mixed on Wood
Marc C. Woehr: My little family, my friends and my surroundings give me the strength and the ideas I need. My wife is my greatest critic and my little boy is my biggest fan.
Slamxhype: Anyone you desire to work with/for?
Marc C. Woehr: A big wall together with Shepard and Frerk.
SlamxHype: What is the best gallery in Stuttgart?
Frerk: Staatsgalerie Stuttgart. With Andy Warhol, Otto Dix, Picasso and many more.
SlamxHype: What is your favorite place to visit?
Marc C. Woehr: A little clearing approx. 5 min. from our house. You can see the whole city from up there.
Marc C. Woehr "Stand Alone" Mixed on Wood
SlamxHype: What artists are changing the way we think at the moment?
Frerk: For me it’s Banksy. Yann Arthus-Bertrand. I really like the socio-critical stuff.
Marc C. Woehr: Difficult question – I think we won’t really know who really moved and shook us until time goes by.
SlamxHype: Where do you see the art scene in 10 years time?
Frerk: Hard to say. 10 years ago I was 18. If somebody had told me that ten years later I would be having an exhibition in the US, I would probably have had a fit of laughter. So it‘s such a long time and anything could happen.
Frerk "ID.09F.1939w" Mixed on Wood
SlamxHype: What’s green, fluffy and lives in your second drawer?
Frerk: Myself. And it is my daily business to break out.
Marc C. Woehr: Handcuffs.
