Swarm Art
The portraits of many people become a museum.
Olaf Neumann has given our museum a face.
01 · Swarm Art
Since 2010, Olaf Neumann’s works have grown out of the participation of many people. They send photos and themes, sit for portraits or become part of the picture themselves. Their contributions become individual works, and the individual works become one large picture: the swarm artwork.
Olaf Neumann coined the term Schwarmkunst, Swarm Art; Wikipedia names him as its originator. It all began on Ibiza: he asked the readers of his blog to send him portrait photos and published a drawing every day.
“In this young art form, also known as ‘crowd art’ or ‘participatory art’, which he co-founded in 2010, the creativity of many individual swarm members multiplies into one great whole.”
“One of the best-known German-speaking participatory artists on the internet.”
02 · People and Art · 2014/15
In 2014, Olaf Neumann invited visitors to the Kunstmuseum Mülheim an der Ruhr to be photographed in front of their favourite work in the collection, holding a bust of the Great Dane Scully, the main character of his cartoon series DOGTARI.
Around 60 portrait sessions took place in the museum. Over several months, the photos became hyperrealist pastels. Neumann then assembled photos and drawings into a large mosaic that depicts the museum’s façade. The swarm artwork now hangs in the museum’s foyer.
“The results are deceptively real likenesses that come close to optical illusions.”
Press (in German)
“‘Maria mit den offenen Haaren’: Jan van Eyck painted the picture in the 15th century, Dorothee Golz brought it into the present, and Olaf Neumann into the here and now.”
03 · Works 2007–2024
Every project follows the same principle: one call, many contributions, one shared work.
For one year, every day except Sundays, Olaf Neumann drew an interpretation of the front-page headline of the German tabloid BILD, each in exactly 111 minutes. The 312 pictures appeared on his blog the same day, and readers’ comments fed back into the work. This gave rise to the idea of making the audience a co-author.
In early 2010, Olaf Neumann asked his online community to send him portrait photos. Every day he drew one portrait and posted it on his blog. In the same year, the daily cartoon series DOGTARI began.
At the art fair contemporary art ruhr, participants were photographed with an object of special personal meaning. The photos became hyperrealist pastels and a 150 × 300 cm swarm artwork: a self-portrait of the artist made of thousands of photos and drawings. Mirror surfaces within the picture turned visitors into part of the work themselves.
“Olaf Neumann sees himself less as an artist who creates from within himself than as a recipient of other people’s suggestions and ideas.”
The swarm artwork from around 60 portrait sessions, with a solo exhibition at the museum. More above.
During the lockdown, Olaf Neumann noticed that many people were adopting dogs from shelters and asked about the role of the dog as an “emotional compass in a digital world”. He conceived and realised IN DOG WE TRUST in collaboration with Hans-Peter Porzner and the Museum für Moderne Kunst München. The project produced paintings, digital works, objects and art films. In collaboration with the Kunsthalle Bremen, as part of the project “Albrecht Dürer and AI”, his Great Dane Scully symbolically became the “executing artist”.
After Scully’s death in 2024, hundreds of dog owners were photographed with their pets at the Rhein-Center in Cologne. These images became new swarm artworks, among them a 2.40-metre sculpture: Spiderman searching for Scully.
Double-page spreads in ARTIST magazine
04 · DOGTARI
Since 2010, Olaf Neumann has drawn cartoons about life with his Great Danes under the pseudonym DOGTARI. They appear online every day, for a community that suggests themes and ideas, as well as in books and calendars.
This makes DOGTARI a Swarm Art project in its own right, as press reports following a dpa interview also noted. The Great Dane became the artist’s signature: as a bust in the hands of the Mülheim participants, and as the main character of IN DOG WE TRUST.
Visit DOGTARIIn preparation
Olaf Neumann is preparing a new Swarm Art project in cooperation with the artist Hans-Peter Porzner. Their collaboration began in 2013.
More soon
05 · Portraits
Every swarm artwork starts with the individual portrait. In 1982, Olaf Neumann portrayed Andy Warhol: as an intern with Burkhard Driest, he met Warhol in the circle around Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s film “Querelle”, for which Warhol designed the poster.
From 2003 on Ibiza, Neumann developed his own style, a mix of hyperrealism and comic-strip art, which he calls “Menschenbilder” (“people pictures”). There he portrayed Dietmar Schönherr, Vivi Bach and Burkhard Driest, among others. The portrait of Dietmar Schönherr shown here was used for the cover of his autobiographical novel “Sternloser Himmel” (Starless Sky), and Neumann’s portrait of Kate Moss appeared on the cover of Ibiza Style. Further portraits show Gottfried Helnwein, Harald “Toni” Schumacher and Karl Lagerfeld.
“I find his works very impressive. How good it is to see quality art once again.”
06 · CV
Born in 1965 in Essen, Germany. Olaf Neumann combines hyperrealist painting, comics and video in participatory Swarm Art projects. His works are held in public and private collections. He lives and works on Gozo, Malta.
| 1965 | Born in Essen, Germany |
|---|---|
| 1982 | Internship with Burkhard Driest in the circle around Fassbinder’s film “Querelle”; portrait of Andy Warhol |
| 1986 | Studies in communication design and communication sciences |
| 1988 | First experimental art videos and digital drawing |
| 1988–2002 | International pilot projects in design and culture across Europe and Asia |
| 2002 | Focus on painting, from 2003 on Ibiza. Fusion of hyperrealism and comic art; portraits of Kate Moss, Dietmar Schönherr, Vivi Bach, Burkhard Driest, Gottfried Helnwein and Karl Lagerfeld, among others |
| 2007 | BILD Project 111: 312 pictures, each made in 111 minutes |
| 2010 | Start of Swarm Art and of the daily cartoon series DOGTARI; return to Germany |
| 2013 | “Just One Thing”, contemporary art ruhr, Zollverein World Heritage Site, Essen. First collaboration with Hans-Peter Porzner |
| 2014–2015 | “People and Art” with the Kunstmuseum Mülheim an der Ruhr; solo exhibition in 2015 |
| 2015–2020 | Book publications of the DOGTARI cartoons, including “Wachhunde” and “Hundefreunde” with Panini Books |
| 2020–2024 | IN DOG WE TRUST, conceived and realised with Hans-Peter Porzner and the Museum für Moderne Kunst München, in collaboration with the Kunsthalle Bremen, among others; 2024 Swarm Art event at the Rhein-Center Cologne |
| 2025 | Move to Gozo, Malta |
| 2026 | New Swarm Art project in preparation, in cooperation with Hans-Peter Porzner |
Contact
on@olafneumann.art
+356 7999 2439 Malta
+49 176 6086 8724 Germany
Qala, Gozo, Malta