Marcin Glod is 30 and comes from graphic design. Today he is a visual artist whose work combines street art, pop art and painting. Since 2020 he has shown numerous solo exhibitions, including one in the attic of St. Stephen's Cathedral, and has worked with brands such as 25hours Hotels and Dior. He also became known for Perfect Woman, a project for which he put up flyers in more than 25 cities to find the perfect woman. In conversation with Alena Gröfler, he explains why he is turning his back on Vienna, what he advises young creatives and why he recorded a song.
HOMEISSUE You started out as a graphic designer and had your own fashion label as a teenager. How did you eventually come to art?
Marcin Glod I originally come from advertising, or rather from graphic design, and I had an agency. As a child I always loved painting, but it wasn't my dream to become a painter. Through my eyes as a child it wasn't really a profession, more a hobby. I studied graphic and communication design at the Graphische and learned graphics and everything digital. I was around 14 or 15 then, and during that time I founded the fashion label with a friend, and then the agency. Over time the agency became a bit too stressful for me, because you were always working with clients and always had to be available. One of my clients had a gallery, and I handled his graphic design for years. Then one day I asked him whether we could exhibit my work. It worked, and so I shut down the agency and switched to art.
How did you find your own style?
Over time, really. I always made comics or bright, cheerful things in poppy colours; that was always there somehow. But of course it developed, partly according to what goes down well with people and what sells. It also comes from travelling and from sources of inspiration. I think it's a mix of everything.
The Austrian art he knew from museum outings struck him as "rather abstract". In America he then saw the more colourful side, Warhol, Haring, Basquiat, and drew inspiration from their series and techniques. Today he describes his style as a mix of street art, pop art and painting, "as a whole, somehow modern contemporary art".
FROM ST. STEPHEN'S TO AMERICA
How important are solo exhibitions to you?
Pretty important, actually. I've focused on presenting the art in the concept and in the order I'd like. I'm very fussy about that, a perfectionist. Since 2020, when it all started, I've done a great deal, looking back a bit too much. In Austria I've actually done almost everything, even an exhibition up in the attic of St. Stephen's Cathedral. As I see it, there's no further way up; unfortunately it's repeating itself now.
Now he wants to grow elsewhere. The plan is the American market, with New York and Miami, and from March or April he wants to get a taste of China. At the moment he doesn't really see much potential for growth in Europe or in Vienna.
PERFECT WOMAN
The idea came about in May of last year in New York, where Marcin Glod was travelling with good friends from Vienna. They saw something similar on the street, and two of his friends suggested turning it into a search for a woman by flyer. Marcin Glod designed the flyer in the hotel room, and the next day they put it up, "as a fun project, so to speak". It didn't go viral within a few hours, he says, but it set a great deal in motion. "I'm single, so I'm not having people on, it's genuinely true," he says. For now he is taking a break from the project, because it took up so much time.
Was the project a success on a personal level?
I was really overwhelmed by the messages; definitely more than 10,000 women got in touch. I did meet a few back then. But at the moment I'm not in a position to commit to anyone, because I travel a lot. But I find it difficult for a relationship to come out of that. You'd have to meet someone who perhaps also travels a lot and works freelance. That's why it isn't accomplished yet.
The project turned into a song, a music video and even a record deal. How did that come about?
That was actually very spontaneous too. I think music is valued more than pictures. I paint an artwork and it has hit on something cool, then it gets sold and ends up with a collector, and I have to paint something new. And with music I thought it was cool that you can make something and it just stays online for ever and ever. I'm not a musician and don't want to become one.
VISIBILITY
How do you approach collaborations with brands?
Projects like that come about. People know you and approach you with a request. In the past, at 18 or 19, when I had the agency, I wrote to brands myself and actively looked for collaborations. Over time it came more from the other side, through the exhibitions and the press coverage.
He advises young creatives to approach brands proactively. It has to make sense and mustn't seem too forced, but at some point you have to start. "The most you can get is a no." In hindsight, though, he would also say that you shouldn't do everything that lands at your feet, and shouldn't trust everyone who promises something. "I was always the one who did everything," he says.
HOME
In Vienna, Marcin Glod lived and worked in one place, divided into two areas, separate but in one spot.
Did it ever become too much, living and working in the same place?
I don't think so. I actually love not having to commute and being able, with a clear head, either to paint until five in the morning or to get up early and keep working. That wasn't the problem; it was more all the events and people. Lots of people want something from you, and then you get tempted to go to all sorts of parties. I think what stressed me came more from the outside and not from the inside. But maybe I did it that way on purpose. Good question. I'd probably have to discuss that with a psychologist.
On top of that, people knew where he lived. People often stood at his door every week, rang the bell or wanted to drop by spontaneously. "It wasn't a retreat, so to speak, it was chaos," says Marcin Glod. He has since given up his studio and apartment and no longer has a fixed home. He stays in a city for one or two months; most recently he was in Miami, next comes Asia and then America again. Over the years he had accumulated thousands of objects and paints, and all of it gave him headaches. Now he is glad to have given everything up and to work his way into new cities with a suitcase and a clear head.
How does that work logistically with your art?
I think it's very cool. You can buy everything anywhere. Really, you can make art with just a brush, some paint and a canvas. That's why I have a storage space in Austria where everything is archived, and we're building a better archive and a shipping system. I also find it exciting to let myself be inspired on location for a while and to make the work there, because different things emerge than in the studio in Vienna, where you've lived for a long time. As an artist you don't really need much.
For him, moving around also has an artistic reason. "When you have a studio, you always have the same pictures on the walls, or the same spirit," he says. "It's not inspiring to be in the same place." Perhaps in a few years he will build a base again. "But not so much for now."
The full conversation with Marcin Glod is available on the HOMEISSUE Podcast with Alena Gröfler.