Maison Hefner
Maison Hefner
Who are you?
My Name is Monty, most people on the internet probably know me as Maison Hefner. I am a multidisciplinary artist with a strong focus on text that is currently based in Leipzig, Germany.
What gives you the most joy?
What gives me most joy in life are the things that I would not mention in an interview. Not because they are special or too obscene, but because they are very simple, quite boring to talk about, and yet these are the most valuable moments. And of course writing. Writing gives me a lot of pleasure and a lot of peace.
How did you find yourself?
Not sure I ever will. But for a start it helps to do what you want to do, and not what others want you to do, which is not always easy.
Do you have a real-life situation that inspired your work?
There is not one particular real life situation that inspires my work, I guess that in fact it is a constant back and forth between the two. One feeds off the other and vice versa. My work is streaked by what I experience on a day to day basis, encounters and events.
What makes you angry?
A lot of things. I wouldn’t know where to start. In my opinion the world with most it’s structures and constructs needs a THOROUGH shake. It’s too easy to get hung up on these kind of things, and often I catch myself doing so.
What is the strangest situation that happened to you last year?
The strangest situation of 2020. I guess it was when I first tried buying toilet paper and experienced first hand the incredibly weird obsession of Germans and their desire to posses toilet paper in a crisis. And the even stranger moment when I stumbled across a fresh delivery of toilet paper in a supermarket outside off the city thinking: you should probably buy two packs, this is your chance.
What would be your perfect environment for making art?
It depends what you mean with ‘perfect environment’. On the one hand my mind needs to be in a state where I am able to channel all of my input. This works best when you are not bothered by anything other than what you are dealing with in your work. On the other hand the physical environment needs to be right depending what you need to express. There is no point sitting in your studio when all you want to do is write silly stuff on walls. Sometimes my studio can be a very comforting place to produce, and sometimes it can totally be in the way of things.
What is your favorite place that inspires you the most?
I do not have a favourite place that inspires me most. It is more the act of travelling that immensely influences and inspires my work. The people that I meet, the situations that I experience, the places that I see and am able to be part of, even if its just for a brief moment.
Who are your favorite persons?
Most people that inspire me are people you never heard of, but are people that are close to me. People that have fascinated me with the way the live, the way they walk through life. These people do things differently, they view the world differently and allow you to do the same.
What advice can you give to young artists?
Even though I am a young artist that constantly is looking for advice myself, I think the most important thing it continuity, continuity, continuity. There is no point in overthinking what you do, or how you do it. It is about doing it. And continue doing it. No matter what. You will always find excuses for not doing something. You will always find yourself questioning your work or why or for who you are doing it. And even if it seems pointless, continue. Because that I guess is the point of it.