Episode 11: 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!

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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.

"The Bullet Journal is like my brain. Everything I think, plan, undertake and endeavour, starts out in the book."

Do you keep all your notes?

Every once in a while I get rid of some sketchbooks when there are simply too many of them. At the moment, I have eleven books at my workplace alone. However, it’s another story when I lose one or leave one somewhere. Then I sometimes mourn it for a week.

Why do you use so many notebooks at the same time?

Because I always need one, but often forget to put it in my bag. So I frequently buy new ones. And when I go on trips my sketchbooks are my companions. I don’t like eating in restaurants by myself, but I often have to do it when I’m travelling. So it helps me to have my book on the table and be drawing at the same time. The book gives me privacy, protects me from other people’s looks and lets me forget about the rest of the world. In that moment I am having a conversation with my thoughts and ideas.

How do you organise your thoughts: moodboards, lists, mindmaps?

(Laughs) Unfortunately I don’t have a system. And even though I always tell myself I’m going to devote a book to just one project, I can’t even manage to do that. I’m often quite disciplined on the first few pages, but then another project comes along and my resolution goes down the drain. Actually, the books are witnesses of my daily routine.

Do you have any writing rituals?

My most important ritual is writing down and sketching out my ideas at night. I often wake up at night with an idea that won’t let me go until I’ve got it down on paper. That’s why there is always a sketchbook on my bedside table.

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.

"I write diaries to let things out, reflect on them and at the same time, let them go."

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.