Stefan Neumayer - Biography

I have been interested in drawing and painting since I was a child. I come from a family of artists and inherited my artistic talent from my great-grandfather Franz Xaver Neumayer, who was a painter in Munich.

After graduating from high school, I decided to pursue an artistic profession. In 1980 I started training as a sign painter at C. Blaschke & Sohn. The company, founded by sign maker Karl Blaschke, has shaped the appearance of numerous Munich retailers and thus that of the city center with its wonderful advertising signs for several decades.

What attracted me to this profession was that sign painters have always been more than just painters of lettering and symbols. Skills in graphics and calligraphy were, in addition to manual skills and a steady hand, a basic requirement for the design of advertising signs and shop window lettering.

I also incorporate the skills I acquired from this early training into my later artistic work, in which I often integrate the techniques and principles of sign painting into my art. For example, I can use knowledge of craftsmanship to paint in a precise and detailed way as well as the ability to choose and combine colors to create vivid and expressive images.

Technological developments however did not promise good future prospects for sign painting. That's why I took the commercial direction professionally. Today I work in a large corporation in the Human Resources department.

I have however always retained my artistic interests and passions. Through continuous learning, training and autodidactic methods, I continue to develop my painting style and try out new things. By combining different techniques and styles I try to create my own artistic identity.

For many years I have been creating pictures in acrylic, watercolor, pencil and charcoal. I come across motifs by chance when travelling, in a café, in newspapers, etc. I am most interested in representational painting, as well as the human figure and portraits.

I am also happy to accept commissions and create portraits in watercolor or as pencil/charcoal drawings at the customer's request.