Mark Medlock celebrates his comeback – with pictures in the rooms of Northern Lights in Westerland
Stephan von Kolson, Sylter Rundschau from 17th April 2025
WESTERLAND – It started by chance. With curiosity. Perhaps even with a bit of a guilty conscience. Nearly 15 years ago, Mark Medlock moved from Wörringen near Cologne to Sylt. “And for almost just as long, I haven’t had a look in the loft since moving,” says the winner of the fourth series of Deutschland sucht den Superstar (DSDS). What he then rediscovered were almost 40 canvases. Many are only half-finished, others are in such a state that he no longer recognises himself in them, and where only the frame appeals to him now. “I just thought: what a gift. Painting is exactly what I’ve unconsciously been missing for a long time,” says the former DSDS star, who in recent years had increasingly withdrawn from the public eye. Only recently, he surprised his more than 100,000 followers on social media by revealing that he’s working on pictures.
He became a star with Dieter Bohlen
The canvases he found in the loft, on the one hand, take him back to his childhood and youth in Offenbach near Frankfurt. “My dad was always either making music or painting,” the 46-year-old recalls. “And he even came first as a street artist in Georgia in the USA.” And for Mark Medlock himself, brushes and sketchbooks were constant companions from an early age. Even later on. When he was selling millions of records with DSDS and Dieter Bohlen, he would stand in front of the canvas in the quiet moments at home.
Does he need a particular place – or a certain mood – to be able to paint? “Not at all,” says Medlock. “Painting is like opening a window that I then close again.” A process that needs to disappear from his field of vision to allow new impressions. “I work at home on a frame in front of the washing machine. The paints and equipment are in the room behind. As soon as I’m finished, I tidy everything away immediately. After all, it should remain art – and not become work.”
And: painting was always a rather private affair for Mark Medlock. “That was what I could do when I had some peace away from Dieter Bohlen,” says Medlock with a wink, and the level of irony in that remains open to interpretation. But seriously: “No one knew I painted.” And for a long time, the Frankfurt native had resisted showing his pictures. Currently, he has three canvases at home measuring 1.5 by 2.3 metres. “Blank canvases provoke me,” says Medlock. What does he intend to do with the canvases? “I paint myself naked with paint and roll around on them,” he says, laughing, and then: “Honestly, I don’t know what will happen yet.” He’s just an ordinary bloke. “Having an exhibition here on Sylt in the rooms of Northern Lights is like someone inviting me on a flight to Mars: unbelievable!” Medlock sees himself as a Pop Art artist. “A lot of myself is in it. Naivety, very bright colours. Direct observations on Sylt. Spontaneous ideas.” Like the crow god, he says, pointing to one of the few rather gloomy pictures. Every day at 5 pm, a huge flock of crows would fly to his house and darken the sky. “And I just thought: thanks for the inspiration!”
Will he sing? No question!
Recurring motifs are seahorses. The pictures are meant to convey cheerfulness. Occasionally, however, he also has to include a political statement. For example, with a male mermaid who, with his top hat, is somewhat reminiscent of one of those business tycoons from the 1920s. “The way the seas are currently being overfished – it can’t go on like this.” Or a media-critical motif, which he also sees with a twinkle in his eye on the canvas. Mark Medlock’s pictures can be seen in the “Northern Lights Concept Store” in Norderstraße, Westerland. The private view starts this Saturday, 19th April. From 10 am to 4 pm, the exhibition will initially be open to the press, collectors and art enthusiasts. From 4 pm onwards, the artist will also be present in person, together with his manager and best friend Cornelia Reckert. Will Mark Medlock sing? Let’s just say this much: a stage has already been set up.
After the event, a report appeared on Sylt1.
