A New Take On the Iconic Illustration of the Line At Berghain by Nicola Napoli

A New Take On the Iconic Illustration of the Line At Berghain by Nicola Napoli

Even though clubs have been closed for over a year now, surprisingly, we haven’t really run short on news about Berlin’s famous nightlife places. From photography projects on clubber outfits, empty dancefloors, or outdoor raving, to virtual clubs and nightlife activism – there is always something to write about. And we are glad to keep the spirit alive this way, even though we’re all really craving for a party right now.

Artist and illustrator Nicola Napoli has also dedicated some of his time during the lockdown to work on a new nightlife-related piece. He’s blessed us already with various party-themed artworks in the past, but his most notable work might be the iconic line at Berghain that he first came out with back in 2014. It was one of our most successful articles of the time and it prompted a collaborative event and exhibition that we hosted together with him showcasing a new elaborate 10-meter long artwork.

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Josefine Aspvik’s Witty Illustrations of the Berlin Techno Scene

Josefine Aspvik’s Witty Illustrations of the Berlin Techno Scene

Partying in Berlin is a whole thing. The ritual of preparing yourself for a long weekend of non-stop techno has its own steps and rules. For the techno lovers and night creatures, it’s like a sacred ceremony of the modern days. It takes time and money that not all Berliners can’t really afford to spend. But in the techno tribe, too much is never enough. They have consecrated themselves to the Club God and they are ready to give it all. For some people it seems almost impossible to get out of the spiral of techno, that drew them in over and over again.

The young Berlin-based illustrator Josefine Aspvik has perfectly captured the absurdity of taking yourself too seriously. Her drawings are honest and witty and I’m sure you’ll recognize in them that friend that refuses to meet if not at Berghain.

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Queerness, Sex and Pizza Boxes: The Illustrations of Rory Midhani

Queerness, Sex and Pizza Boxes: The Illustrations of Rory Midhani

Rory Midhani is a talented, young Berlin-based illustrator whose work centers around nightlife, sex, queerness and trans experiences. The self-described “twinkie trans boy artist’s”  cartoons, drawings, and murals illustrate light-hearted, lively, and silly little scenes, but look more closely and you’ll see they’re packed with underlying social commentary. His latest work takes you into a world out of sex, parties, clubs, and cardboard puppets. If you feel ready for his hilariously explicit work, read on.

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Berlin Illustrations That Will Melt Your Heart

Berlin Illustrations That Will Melt Your Heart

The internet’s just great, isn’t it? Giving you access to the coolest blogs (like iHeartBerlin!! 😎 ), and also to discovering artists you wouldn’t otherwise: Jenny O’Boyle is one of them, and her illustrations will make you want to hug them. Jenny is a professional illustrator, running both a physical store at Wissmannstr. 21 and an online shop, both called bär von pappe (meaning bear of cardboard), selling her work as well as a line of sustainable stationery. Everything she designs is super cute, and we’d suggest  once you find yourself near Hermannplatz, looking for a cute notebook in which to write about all your Berlin adventures, that you go and check out her stuff.

Lovers of all things Berlin as we are, what caught our eye is one of the artist’s city-themed projects, where she sets out to explore an object for each street of Berlin, and in this way, guide us around every neighborhood by means of illustration. Massive undertaking as it sounds, she’s done, however, a beautiful job so far, taking us from one massive monument, building, subway station or fountain to the next all the way from Mitte, over Kreuzberg, down to Neukölln. Here are some of her Berlin-themed artworks.

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An Illustrated Tribute to David Bowie by Nicola Napoli

An Illustrated Tribute to David Bowie by Nicola Napoli

The Berlin-based illustrator is at it again! You might know him from his iconic Berghain and nightlife illustrations that we totally fell in love with – so much, in fact, that we dedicated a whole exhibition in his honor, for which he created his biggest and most elaborate illustration to date. In his latest set of illustrations he pays tribute to the late David Bowie – a character so full of inspiration and creativity that he has influenced not only musicians and performers, but all kinds of artists all over the world. In the two new works by Nicola you can see two of Bowie’s most iconic looks: The Kansai Yamamoto outfit from the Aladdin Sane era that was inspired by Oscar Schlemmers Triadic Ballet, and the turquoise suit from the Ziggy Stardust era.

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The Awesome Berlin Illustrations by Martin Schwartz

The Awesome Berlin Illustrations by Martin Schwartz

illustrations: Martin Schwartz

Today we want to present to you a new set of wonderful Berlin illustrations that we discovered. They come from the talented Danish graphic designer and illustrator Martin Schwartz, who specializes in architecture, animals and maps. We love his clean and vivid style, and his city portfolio is just amazing! For Berlin he created collages with the most significant and beautiful buildings, which give a wonderful impression of the city. We love his district pieces of Prenzlauer Berg, Kreuzberg, Friedrichshain and Charlottenburg because they beautifully highlight the landmark architecture of these areas, and mix them with more ordinary buildings that we might otherwise overlook but that still shape the image of the district.

In his portfolio you will also find other cities such as New York, his base Copenhagen and Aarhus. You can get prints of his awesome city and animal illustrations over at Junique. The Berlin pieces after the jump.

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Berlin’s Architecture Illustrated

Berlin’s Architecture Illustrated

illustrations: Daniel Ramirez Perez

Berlin’s cityscape isn’t as flashy as some other metropoles boasting a single iconic landmark like Lady Liberty for New York City, the Eiffel Tower for Paris or the Twin Tower for Kuala Lumpur. Instead, Berlin rather gets you with its edgy, yet historic, character that is present and clearly visible everywhere in the city. From the graffitied streets of Kreuzberg to the tall Fernsehturm that you can see from pretty much wherever you are – I’m sure you will agree that this indeed is a very diverse city. It’s difficult to sum up Berlin in words, that’s why we’re glad to have illustrator Daniel Ramirez Perez capture our charming and wonderfully weird Berlin in his colorful architectural illustrations. Have a look for yourself after the jump. read more…

The Illustrated Teufelsberg Spie Station

The Illustrated Teufelsberg Spie Station

No other abandoned building became such an iconic representative for the mysterious past of Berlin like the former NSA station at Teufelsberg. On top an 80 meter artificial hill (made out of war detruits) in the Grunewald forest on the west edge of the city, this very impressive building is a strong recall of strategic importance of Berlin in the cold war. Several photo excursion, short clips and art projects are proof who much the collective imaginative is empowered by the fading architecture of this place. One really nice artistic dedication to this monument is the Teufelsberg series that was previously exhibited at Urban Spree Gallery. It is a set of 19 hand painted originals created by several Berlin street artist on a black-and-white screen print of the iconic Berlin-Teufelsberg landscape designed by Chrisse Kunst. The entire set comes after the jump.
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You Gotta Love Berlin – Illustrations by Xuehka

You Gotta Love Berlin – Illustrations by Xuehka

We’ve recently published a little collection of some of our favorite Berlin illustrations and received a couple of submissions since then which we would love to share with you. This one comes from artist and illustrator Xuehka who is half Colombian and half Italian and now living in Berlin. Obviously it didn’t take very long for some of Berlin’s special qualities to become inspiration for Xuehka’s work and so we find a lot of references to the city in these works. Enjoy some views on the nightlife, the subway, the creative scene and the Berliner’s favorite drink after the jump.

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Fashion Illustration by Nicola Napoli

Fashion Illustration by Nicola Napoli

While Berlin Fashion Week is pretty focussed now on young designers and upcoming labels, Paris Fashion Week is pretty much about the big brands and famous designers. Berlin-based artist and illustrator Nicola Napoli has taken a look over to the French side of fashion and created a set of 3 fashion illustrations inspired by Balmain, Comme des Garcons and Gareth Pugh. Enjoy his vision after the jump.

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