Tricking the Brain with Mark Bohle

December 17, 2024

Mark Bohle’s creative journey has evolved organically over time, with his continuous search for Easter Eggs and a move to Barcelona serving as major inspirations that brought drawing to the forefront of his practice. Through his design work and workshops, he continues to inspire others with his playful, curious spirit, sharing the joy of creative discovery and collaboration.

Untitled, each 13x21cm, 2024

You wear many hats as an artist, designer, and teacher. Can you share your creative journey and how you found your way into each of these fields?

One thing brings you to another. Everything happened quite naturally. There were no radical changes, until the moment I moved to Barcelona. In hindsight this was for sure an intense cut for me as for my work. I am originally from Germany - I studied in Stuttgart - and, since finishing my studies, I have been living in this beautiful medieval city called Barcelona.

Your work is known for being playful and creative. How do you approach bringing fun into your design process, and why is it important for you to keep things experimental?

Is it? Haha, I love to hear this. I try to avoid the expression “experimental”. It feels a little bit misleading to me, quite often it is used to justify random design decisions. I would prefer to say that I am searching for Easter eggs. These surprise moments can be very small details but they are worth looking for.

'Orange Figure', 180x130cm, acrylic and oil pastel on canvas, 2024

Which artists and designers, past or present, have had the greatest influence on your work, and why?

The most influential people are the ones that surround me in my day to day life. My partner Eli, she is influencing my work a lot. Beside her, it's my business partner, Nam Huynh, as well as my friends, and for sure the people I share my studio with: Júlia Esqué, Marc Morro and Jaume Ramírez.

How has your style developed over the years, and were there any pivotal moments that led to these changes?

I do think that the city of Barcelona changed everything substantially. Living abroad is pretty nuts in general.

'24 Times', 72x102cm, in collaboration with Dzhingibi, four colour silkscreen print, each print is customised with individual drawings, limited edition of 24 copies, 2024

Can you share the significance of your sketchbooks in your creative process, and tell us more about the inspiration behind your Pica Pica book?

I very much enjoy thinking while I am drawing something. It’s kind of tricking the brain. By thinking about a project while drawing I can escape running in circles. In this sense, drawing is very basic. The sketchbooks are the city plaza where all projects gather and have beers together.

'Berlin Painting 6', 180x150cm, acrylic and epoxy on canvas, 2023

What do you think participants gain from your interactive workshops that they might not get from traditional design education? Is there a moment from one of your workshops that stands out to you?

I run a lot of workshops with Nam Huynh, we usually try to come up with a task that is very much restricted and very much open at the same time. This way we can assure that the students can realise something that they are personally interested in, assuring that nobody gets lost on track. These processes are always fun to see, the students are so good in peripheric thinking and poetic expression. This is always very impressive. I would love to give a new workshop once a month.

Untitled, each 13x21cm, 2024

Looking back at your career so far, what project or moment stands out as a defining experience that shaped your path as a creative?

The recent publication of Pica Pica was a key moment for me. It changed my perception of my drawing practice. Drawing was background noise for more than ten years and now it shifted to be something very present. This shift also influenced my painting practice a lot. The latest paintings tend to be drawings somehow. I enjoy this movement a lot.

If you could collaborate with any artist, musician, or creative brand, who would it be and why?

Together with Nam Huynh I run the design studio N&MS. We enjoy working for other creatives a lot; developing websites that have a specific approach that displays the artist's unique language. So this is something that we focus a lot on lately. If you now think about retail shops and how much they are changing right now, they move from boring shelf systems to immersive spaces that have unique interpretations of the brand's values. So far there is almost no equivalent movement talking about web shops. They still look and feel the same. This is something we would love to work on, unique web shop experiences that are fun for the customer.