Harald Stoffers

*1961, Germany

Harald Stoffers was born in Hamburg, and joined Elbe-Werkstätten GmbH at the age of 22. There he took to writing individual words on small pieces of paper, which he handed out to the people around him.

Later he developed these small fragments of writing into letters, addressed at first to his “Dear Mum” ('Liebe Mutti'), and later also to other people. The letters consist of handwritten script and graphic compositions, reminiscent of notes and musical scores, and varying in intensity. Sometimes he tears these messages into thin strips and passes them on, or hands them out as he did with his early scraps of paper, and sometimes he reassembles them. Harald Stoffers lives and works in Hamburg.

In 2009 work by Harald Stoffers was exhibited in the christian berst art brut gallery in Paris. An exhibition at Hamburg’s Kunsthalle art museum followed in 2016 to 2017. His work can be found in many collections including The Museum of Everything. As of 2021, Harald Stoffers has also been represented in the 921 works of the “Donation d'Art Brut de Bruno Decharme” at the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

Selected works