Patrick Hartl

Patrick Hartl

Munich / Germany

Patrick Hartl (*1976) is a German contemporary artist with a passion for handwriting and lettering. As of age 15, he was painting Graffiti and learning the ropes of art within the urban sphere. His graphic studies revealed a love for calligraphy and stylised writing with deep roots in the gothic script of his native Germany. Patrick Hartl connects old craftsmanship with modern street style. […]

Biography / Patrick Hartl

Patrick Hartl (*1976) is a German contemporary artist with a passion for handwriting and lettering. As of age 15, he was painting Graffiti and learning the ropes of art within the urban sphere. His graphic studies revealed a love for calligraphy and stylised writing with deep roots in the gothic script of his native Germany. Patrick Hartl connects old craftsmanship with modern street style.

On closer inspection, Hartl’s seemingly monochrome works turn out to be the result of a multitude of layers of paint and a colourful diversity. His favourite canvas is a ten-years-old wall, which has been bombed, cleaned, bombed again, crashed, washed, damaged, but which always tells a new and unique story. As a master of handcrafted designs and analogue works, and one of the foremost urban calligraphers, Patrick Hartl has been involved in making art for more than two decades.

An avid collaborator, Hartl belongs to the 12 official “CALLIGRAFFITI ARTISTS” and, in addition to exhibiting in traditional galleries from New York to Buenos Aires to Tokyo, and he has painted murals across Europe and beyond.

With his friend Christian Hundertmark, with whom he also forms the artist duo LAYER CAKE, Hartl published the book “The Art of Writing Your Name – Urban Calligraphy and beyond“ in 2017.

In 2009 Hartl published the book “Beyond Illustration – The Finest in Contemporary International Art and Illustration“ together with Yvonne Winkler.

From 2005 to 2010 Patrick Hartl published „CASTLE MAGAZINE“, an online magazine about urban art and Illustration together with Yvonne Winkler and Michael Matthias.

Featured on Urban Nation

Subliminal Projects, exhibition The Versus Project IV, German artist duo Layer Cake, individually known as graffiti veterans Patrick Hartl and Christian Hundertmark (C100).
  • Collaborations / International
Layer Cake with “The Versus Project IV” in Los Angeles
After two well-received exhibitions at Urban Nation Museum in Berlin in 2019 and 2022, and at the Museum of Graffiti in Miami earlier this year, our cooperation The Versus Project makes its fourth stop at Subliminal Projects in Los Angeles.
  • Project M
PM 11 // RADIUS
URBAN NATION PRESENTS PROJECT M/11 “RADIUS” CURATED BY Boris Niehaus (JUST), Christian Hundertmark (C100) & Rudolf David Klöckner (URBANSHIT) // February 22nd 2017 until the End of March @ URBAN NATION – Bülowstr. 97, 10783 Berlin