Markus Thonett
Please can you tell us about your background and upbringing?
I grew up in Cologne the middle child of the artist couple Will Thonett and Marianne Tralau. My father ‘found art’ as a result of spending a couple of years in hospital due to corrective surgery on his hips. My parents met in art school.
Did you make art as a child?
I cannot remember ever not making art, or not thinking in terms of art.
What is your earliest memory associated with art?
My earliest memory of actually achieving something substantial in art was when I tied an old tree root to a stump of another dead tree in our garden, which I then painted in bright and swirling colours. I don’t think I was older than seven or eight then. But I remember always drawing and painting and making things long before that.
Please could you tell us who or what has had the most significant influence on you as an artist.
Having artist parents has definitely had a great effect on me. At the age of about 12 I discovered drawing in pen and ink. I seriously thought that I was always going to work that way from then on.
As an adult I have admired the works by artists like Marc Chagall, Jackson Pollock, Alberto Giacometti, Pablo Picasso and all the other modern artists. But being among students in art-school has perhaps been the one thing that has most spurred me on to search for and find my own creative expression.
Please describe your practice for us in 3 adjectives
Inquisitive, sincere, ongoing...
What is your artist muse? Your inspiration.
I am inspired by the relationships we have to each other as human beings, and by the relationships we have to the natural and the created worlds. I am inspired by life itself and by the human experience,
What motivates you?
When I pursue investigative and creative processes I feel more alive and more centred than when I don’t. Also I get a kick out of other people relating to my work when they are finding it challenging, interesting or inspiring.
Please can you talk to us in detail about one piece of artwork.
‘Approaching Peace’ 100cm x 100cm is a piece I made in response to a call for work on the theme of peace. Initially I wasn’t going to respond as it seemed to be calling for an approach that was too obvious and too ‘on the nose’ for my liking. But just after deciding that I wasn’t going to enter I had a bit of a revelation during my morning meditation. All of a sudden it became clear that peace was something internal, something we achieve in waves and in part, something we experience, not something that can be achieved by individuals or by groups, and held on to like a trophy or a possession. It also became clear that the work, like the subject, would have to be abstract in nature. And in that instant I had a clear understanding what I wanted to do and how. It is this piece that gave birth to my process of carving and painting repurposed plywood.
Please could you tell us about the piece of artwork you are most proud of, and why.
I cannot think of one piece that somehow makes me more proud than all the others. But I feel that ‘Memory of a Hug’ turned out rather well. The process of making art, for me, is always a process of communication between an initial thought, the materials and some infinite wisdom that seems to be always present. I feel good about this piece because for me it emerged pure and clear out of this process of communication, and it could not have done so had I not been completely honest with myself.
I am also really proud of my collaboration with my wife Tessa. Again, this would not have been possible or fruitful without both of us being totally honest with ourselves and with each other. This process of working, or state of being, can be really hard to find, but once found it is more like water flowing down a mountainside than it is like work.
What’s the best thing about being an artist?
I believe that I am able to get a lot more ‘mileage’ out of the experience of being alive as a result of being an artist. A true artist has a sharpened perception, a unique way of processing an experience, and a profound visual vocabulary to express herself.
And the worst..!?
I don’t think there is anything bad about being an artist. There is however a concept that many have about art and about being an artist, and that is that there is no money in it. I am however learning now that this has nothing to do with being an artist but everything to do with not knowing our own value and the value of what we have to offer.
What advice would you give to those aspiring to make a living out of art?
Seriously pursue your inspiration and hone your craft, be true to yourself, and seek the advice and training of someone who can help you to make transactions with the world that are beneficial to both the world and to you.
What is the most important thing to know about you?
Importance is always a question of perspective. For me the most important thing about myself is that I am completely honest with myself. And that I owe this to myself, rather than to anyone else.
Please tell us one unexpected thing about yourself.
When I was in my mid teens I ran away from home to find myself. I felt oppressed by the views of my parents and by society around me. I ended up traveling parts of Europe and North Africa. I later tried to find myself through religion. Again this has brought me to many exotic places. Traveling the world has been most valuable to me, but I was neither able to run away from who I was, nor was I able to mold myself into some kind of ideal. Finding myself is a constant process of relating to others by being vulnerable and true to who I think I am at any one time. I believe that art is a great tool in this process of self discovery.
My late father once said that art is a means of emancipation and may perhaps, as such, one day not be necessary.