Dennis Schuster [DXTR]
With participants from all over the world, our global community is one of the most crucial aspects of The Sketchbook Project. So when we discovered The Hangover Book by DXTR (Dennis Schuster) from Germany, we felt that our community would enjoy his unique work.
Dennis began his work “classically”, as he puts it, at night with his buddies and a few cans of spray paint. Eventually, he matured into what his friends call “Dexter’s Laboratory” full of equipment and painting tools. After earning his Communication Design degree at the University of Applied Science in Dusseldorf, he started on an independent work route. Although he considers freelancing to be “sometimes a bit harsh,” he seems to genuinely enjoy his work. He additionally founded a collective in 2011 named "The Weird"; a small family of 10 urban illustrators and pop surrealists from Germany and Austria that travel and paint murals around the globe, spreading the beauty of their imagery.
You might have seen his work in Nike or Converse advertisements; or even more notably his work for Amnesty International. He was commissioned to design a campaign that would launch one week before a United Nations debate surrounding an arms treaty. His compelling images were displayed in Times Square. Talk about a global reach!
Of recent, Dennis’ work has garnered plenty of success. The Hangover Book has won two illustration awards in Germany from the Art Directors Club and Red Dot. The book was another commissioned piece by Havas Worldwide Agency for their client, Thomapyrin. Dennis informed us, “the German painkiller Thomapyrin is known as a reliable remedy for headaches, but not for its special anti-hangover qualities.” Their goal was to communicate this particular usage to what he calls “modern, well-educated nightclubbing people.” A particularly intriguing aspect of the book is the inclusion of linguistics and cultural interpretations.
As we’ve gathered, the expressions for "hangover" vary greatly from country to country. In German, the word translates oddly as “male cat”, which serves as inspiration for the base image. In the work, the team of artists incorporates the world’s ten most famous, or infamous, “male cats” by graphically depicting cures, meanings and different cultural norms surrounding the conversation of celebratory drinking. The worldwide reach of the agency eased the research process slightly, allowing Dennis to receive, as he told us, “very nice descriptions and text about each hangover.”
The image for the United States, for example, has the term that we can identify: hangover. The book tells us that the origin of the term is actually Native American, meaning “firewater” or “hanging around.” It then explains that our historical hangover cure was a “pecker of a swallow and myrrh.” Quite educational! For a comparision, below is France’s image.
The French term for hangover is actually, “the wooden jaw (gueule de bois),” according to the book. It appropriately originates from wooden Cognac barrels and drinking vessels. Apparently, their medieval anti hangover recipe consists of red wine mixed with garlic.
This collaboration of DXTR’s work is a great display of his creative process and multi-faceted talents. He states, “I try to work on different things, always something new and fresh: Illustrations, canvases, screen prints, murals, etc.” His variety in mediums is only the beginning of the similarities of his work to The Sketchbook Project. According to him, “we [both] try to share art with the world. It's most likely the same thing. For example I paint in a lot of public spaces, so somehow I’m bringing art to everyday people that can enjoy it. It's the same thing The Sketchbook Project is doing with the tours.” Thanks to DXTR, this holiday season you now have several solutions to all of the “male cats” you may attract.
To see more of Dennis’ work, explore his website.
