Christoph Niemann: Current Lines
© Studio Christoph Niemann
The internationally known illustrator Christoph Niemann will transform the façade of the Horst Janssen Museum into a luminous work of art. The wall drawing entitled "Current Lines" is to be presented to the public in November and will help the museum gain more visibility in the urban space for the next two years. In the course of the modernisation of the adjacent City Museum and the accompanying construction site as well as restrictions on exhibition operations, the art project sees itself as an opportunity for an unusual change of perspective. In this phase of change, the building of the Horst Janssen Museum itself becomes a canvas.
About Christoph Niemann
© Matthew Priestley
"The Horst Janssen Museum is a draughtsman's house. And you can read the fascination for the line in every single one of our special exhibitions," says museum director Dr Jutta Moster-Hoos. "Christoph Niemann is an expert on the line, its degree of abstraction, its accuracy and its pointedness. He is the ideal person to create a mural on the façade of the museum, which is dedicated not only to Horst Janssen but to art on paper." Christoph Niemann (*1970) is internationally active as an illustrator and graphic designer, has published various books and regularly draws covers for "The New Yorker", "National Geographic" and "The New York Times Magazine". In 2017, he was portrayed in an episode of the Netflix series "Abstract: The Art of Design" ». On his Instagram channel @abstractsunday, 1.1 million people follow his weekly illustrations and animations.
Drawing creative process visualised on 50 metres
The 50-metre-long mural "Current Lines" shows a person drawing, which gives a different image during the day than at night. The black drawing on the white façade contrasts with the white lines that light up at night. "It's about inspiration and work, about head and hand, existing and imagined, about figures and ornaments, ultimately about pen and paper, which are at the beginning of all creative work," Jutta Moster-Hoos explains. "Christoph Niemann's mural thematises the creative process in a light and surprising way and at the same time makes the curved façade of the museum dance over a length of more than 50 metres."
The mural will be applied to the façade of the Horst Janssen Museum bit by bit by Sebastian Rolf and Henric Middendorf from the company Buntewände. Once the façade is painted, the electrical installation of LED cords by the company Protones will follow to make the mural glow at night. We will announce the specific date for the release of "Current Lines" in the presence of the artist Christoph Niemann.
