Hannes Schmid

Through his iconic work on America’s most successful advertising campaign, „The Marlboro man", Swiss artist Hannes Schmid (b.1946) holds a unique place in the history of contemporary art and photography. His visually sensitive style of reduction - obscuring of faces, dramatic contrasts within a limited colour palette, and the use of the silhouette - added new drama to one of the most global advertising campaigns and ensured the continued longevity and global identity of the cowboy as the Marlboro man. He was initially approached because of his renowned works within the fashion industry and during the 70s and 80s with numerous rock stars like Elton John, Sting, ABBA, The Queen. His extraordinary eye makes his style of photography very distinctive. Today, Schmid dedicated his life to an enormous and ever-expanding development project in Cambodia to aid 100’000 people to live independently by 2025. In its capital Phnom Penh alone, tens of thousands of children live on the streets. They suffer from hunger, illness, and abuse. Schmid is pioneering a new way of bridging real needs in society that would be both sustainable and profitable. He donates 10% of all sales proceeds to this project.