MAX ZORN 

 

Max Zorn is a Dutch artist who has been active in the urban art scene since 2011. His style is notable for its use of brown packing tape as a medium and cutting on acrylic glass with a scalpel to create portraits and scenes that reveal themselves when the glass is lit from behind. Max Zorn's rise began after publishing a two-minute self-made video on YouTube showing how Zorn hangs his translucent tape art on street lamps as a form of street art at night in Amsterdam. It was picked up by national and international media, and by April 2012 Zorn created over 150 works of tape art.

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In a speech about creating his street art seen in the dark at TEDx Talent Search, Max Zorn states: "I didn't want to work on walls or on the floor I wanted to use street lamps as an urban gallery and I wanted to use the darkness as the setting around my artwork." Max Zorn’s settings and themes are influenced by film noir while brown shades and different layers of tape create a sepia tone. Zorn says he finds inspiration from characters in novels produced by writers from The Lost Generation specifically Hemingway, Steinbeck, and Salinger. His work also is influenced by American realism artists such as Edward Hopper.  Zorn’s work has been described as classic, film noir and nostalgic:  “I'm generally interested in the dynamics between people. I want to freeze a moment that initiates a story without telling too much, like a screenshot from a movie that sparks imagination but leaves room to decide where the story goes.”

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Max Zorn’s work has been hung on street lamps in Germany, United Kingdom, Portugal, Spain, France, and The Netherlands. His work has also been spotted in the United State, Canada and Hong Kong. Through his project Stick Together, his work has been put on street lamps by fans worldwide. In spring 2012, Zorn was invited by the Sovereign Art Foundation to perform a live tape installation at Art Basel Hong Kong, where proceeds of his work went to the foundation for disadvantaged children in Southeast Asia. At the Amsterdam urban art event Stick Together AMSTERDAM, Zorn created the largest tape art made out of brown packing tape, at 9 square meters in size.

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Max Zorn continues to gain global recognition for his unique style and creations with tape art, whilst he remains active in the street art scene his works are sought after by collectors and exhibited at galleries internationally.