Senor Burns (THE RED CAN COMPANY) (DE)

Senor Burns (THE RED CAN COMPANY) (DE)

I told you recently that, according to my studies, germany was probably the second most important poster scene after the US. It seems that I was not wrong as I can today introduce you to Senor Burns poster art. Caramba !!!

Hello, of course as every Crewk interview, first question: what are we listening to when we come to visit you?

- First of all the traffic from outside the street but then out of  my stereo it could be something like 13&GOD, The Evening Hymns, Dos Hermanos, Superchunk, Bavarian Folk...

Can you tell us more about yourself, who are you, where are you from, what do you do?

- My name is Bernd Hofmann and my screenprint-alias is " Señor Burns". I live & work in Munich, Germany since I am nine years old but originally I was born a bit more in the north bavarian in Würzburg. After I worked as a carpentry I went to the Academy of fine Arts and got totally into silkscreen printing in 2001 and left there since.

When did you start drawing?

- Like many of us I loved drawing & painting since I was a kid but it took me until I was 26 and starting studying to get more & more kinda professional with it.

Did you follow any course or did you improve by drawing in the margins of your schoolbooks?

- Out of doing what I did because I was interested in throughout the last ten, twelve years the circumstances went well and as like a tree one thing grew out of another, step by step. I started doing record covers and posters for shows I set up myself together with some friends and was then asked to do it for other bands, labels and venues.

Today are you living from your art, or do you do something else for a living ?

- Beside doing posters and free art prints and trying to get them sold I also do contract jobs for others. Out of running my own label (Red Can Records) I started producing own packaging beside the printing on cardboards and by now it ended by being a small studio where I also do workshops with interested customers and friends.

Are you collaborating with magazines/fanzines, regularly?

- Unfortunately not, yet. Feel free to give me a call!

Where does your influence come from? Is there any artists/graphists you particularly like, what are your influences?

- Of course there are some Artists I've been influenced of, either out of the Pop-Art than also the Gigposter-scene. I hardly try not to copy any of them, which sometimes is not so easy if you look at all the great works of those colleagues. I do respect all the works, though I have my personal favourites.

What are the principal steps in your work ?

- Trying to get the illustration linked to the band - either the band's name, a title of a record or song or my interpretation of what it means to me.

Do you do everything by hand or on computer?

- I try to do most part of my work by hand, though I work with the computer using it as an additional and helpful tool. But the really interesting thing on screenprinting for me is that there are so many various ways to prepare the layers - sketching, lettering, using stamps, tapes...

How long does it take you to do a poster?

- Generally about two days for illustrating and preparing layers and the one day for the screens and for printing the posters.

You have a very distinctive style, are you doing only what you feel like or if tomorrow somebody asks you an oil painting with horses running out of water with a sunset backdrop, is it a problem or are you up for it ?

- If someone I work with has a clear imagine of what he or she would like to have illustrated I try to work with that. But learning out of the past the better results end out of letting me do what I'd like to with mostly no borders...

For which band have you already worked for?
 

- The Notwist, Dos Hermanos, 13& Click Click Decker, Bratze, Menomena, Lali Puna, Gorilla Biscuits, Valina, Kitty Empire, Sometree, Timber Timbre...

For which band would you love to work?

- Tom Waits would be great and also Radiohead. Heroes of my past like Greg Dulli of Afghan Whigs and Twilight Singers or Superchunk as well.

Do you choose the artists yourself?

- Out of five posters I do I maybe choose three by myself and the other two are contracts I get from bands or venues.

What is the most difficult part in designing a poster ?

- The first idea. And then imagine how the coloured layers will combine.

Do you think you are part of a "Graphic Scene", if so who else ?

- I'm not sure if the "scene" would count me in seriously... but speaking for Germany: the amount of constantly practising poster artists is easy to overview. And since I do meet some of the other artists and having shows together and publishing the "SQUEEGEE"-book (http://issuu.com/senorburns/docs/squeegee) or "Das Räkel" (http://design.mitchum.de/das_raekel.html) as result of working together, I think I'm at least part of the german "poster-scene".

A bit of self-promotion, take advantage of it, it's free, where can we see your work , on the web or in real life?

- These links http://red-can.com/senorburns/ and http://senorburns.wordpress.com/ show most of my works and current shows. In personal I'm easy to meet at Flatstock Europe, at Coloured Gigs in Dresden or at the Feierwerk Farbenladen in Munich in May 2012. Or, if in Munich, on each Monday I have my studio opened from 12am to 6pm for buying records and posters.

The best praise you received lately?

- That in 2011 more people liked and bought my posters than the years before.

What can we wish you for the future?
 

- "Make some nice work, get people happy while watching them and sell more then in 2011!"


Thanks again for inviting me!