Boogie: breaking barriers and leaving your mark
Boriana HeimFor our June merch drop we reached out to André Morgner - better known by his street name Boogie - to collab with Adel (7), a pupil from the SDN 4 Batu Putih school in Lombok. André is a German graffiti artist who has left his mark all over the world. When he’s not out on exhibits or painting cars for Formula 1, you can find him in his home in Switzerland with his wife and French bulldog.
Growing up in East Germany and discovering graffiti art
When talking about his upbringing, André says that he grew up in Eastern Germany back when it was still the GDR (Deutsche Demokratische Republik). “I had a nice childhood, but the system was a little bit weird, a little bit crazy, and I was really happy when the Berlin Wall fell. I was 13 when everything changed.”
During the time of the GDR, graffiti wasn’t a very well-known artform. This is why André didn’t get into it until his late teens. He tells us: “I got to know some guys from my school when I was 16 or 17. They told me that they did graffiti. They were the first ones to do graffiti in town and I decided that this was going to be my thing. So, one Sunday afternoon I got two spray cans, went to an old wall by the old train station in our village, and just started.”
Studying Communication Design and working with Formula 1
Some people go to university to discover their passions. But when André went to university, he was already knee-deep in graffiti art and had established his own company. In his own words: “I just wanted to see if I am really made for this [degree]”. It turned out that he was: out of 450 applicants, he was one of 25 people who were accepted to study Communication Design. He reminisces: “It changed my life in a big way. It also changed my feelings on design, colours, shapes, and especially marketing. This has helped me a lot, even now. I learned how to promote things and how to create hype when releasing a product, or even when I want to push my name on social media.”
Just before graduating André chose the stage name Boogie for its visual appeal, and the rest is history! Since then, he has worked with some incredible brands like BMW and Formula 1. Coming from a car-loving family, it’s no wonder that he is a big car fan himself. When talking about his biggest accomplishments, he says: “The most exciting thing was when the Formula 1 guys called me at the end of 2022.” He didn't know why they wanted to meet him at first, until they pointed at a car parked in the corner of the room and asked him if he could paint it for them. He proudly adds: “I was the first ever graffiti artist who got the whole package, who did everything: the car, the suits, the shoes, the champagne bottle for the winner of the race.”
Making art with Adel for Face This
With all the amazing projects under his belt, we were very excited to have André collab on a merch drop for Face This! It seems like the feeling was mutual because he tells us: “I sometimes do workshops with kids where I teach them how to do graffiti. I've been to Indonesia two times now and the people were super friendly to me. So, when I got that message from you, I said okay, let's do it for sure.”
For this Boogie x Face This collab, André collabed with Adel, one of the students at SDN 4 Batu Putih in Lombok. When asked to draw something that makes her feel at home, Adel drew herself and her friends having fun on the beach. When talking about his creative process, André says: “I thought, okay, let's try to combine styles and use the topic of home sweet home for that. I tried to do it in typical Boogie style, but I also used the original drawing from her, with the kid on the bicycle and the kids in the water.”
When thinking about home, André always goes back to his home in Germany. “I’ve been living away from home sweet home for 25 years now, but I still have a connection to my home. I still love that region. And I try to be there as often as I can.”
