To learn more about me, read my Biography or check out the Articles about me.
I grew up and was educated in Hamburg.
As a small child I painted and drew constantly.
I was born with the need to paint and draw.
No wall was safe from me.
My grandparents still complain about the wall in their living room that I drew on at age four.
When I started school I preferred to draw on the school buildings instead of playing in the sand with the other kids.
During the early 80's the graffiti movement started in Hamburg and grew fast in popularity.
I was totally captured.
In 1984 "Mr.W." became my artist's name.
The walls along the Hamburg transit system became my canvas.
Thousands of viewers sped past my art daily.
The artists of the traditional galleries never had that many visitors in one day.
That made the challenge of painting in the dark worth the effort.
The name "Mr.W." spread throughout the city.
In 1988 appreciation of my work enabled me to emerge from painting in the dark to painting in the light of day and to accomplish what I had always wanted to achieve.
The owner of a company liked my work so much that he gave me permission to paint the wall of his business which was located directly on a busy train line.
This was the first time in Hamburg that a graffiti sprayer could do his work in the daylight right in front of a large audience.
Painting without restrictions was so exciting that I painted that wall again and again.
I shared my joy by inviting some of the other great graffiti artists and enthusiasts of Hamburg.
This public mural site brought me even more citywide recognition and opportunity.
Photographs and articles about my work were printed in several local newspapers.
In 1989 I won the award Frische Farbe Graffiti: Kunst bei der Bundesbahn (the first graffiti contest made by the city of Hamburg).
Because of this exposure I had the opportunity to appear on several German TV shows.
After a TV show on RIAS TV in Berlin I painted a mural on the Berlin wall.
The popularity of my art grew throughout the country so that many people were soon asking me to paint for them.
I painted for individuals, a church, companies, and the German government.
In 1990 I moved to Kassel, Germany.
There I had the possibility to paint and experiment with ideas in my own studio.
The projects and paintings in Kassel got granted with a 1. Prize 100 Jahre Industriekultur des AGV Metal.
In 1992 I displayed my paintings in my first
art show.
I also painted a
city bus in Mainz
live on a TV show.
In 1993 the city of Hamburg
gave me a position as one of the jurors
for the next graffiti contest.
In 1996 I went on vacation to America.
I explored the westcoast & got stuck in Phoenix, Arizona.
There I got to paint my so far biggest Mural.
Then in 2003 I went for my summer vacation to Germany.
