Art Director Kurt Woerpel: A Punk Approach to Illustration and Typography

Kurt Woerpel is an artist who brings a punk energy to his illustrations and typography. His work is bold and urgent, with deliberately chaotic typography. In 2018, Kurt was hired as the freelance Art Director for Interview Magazine. While some may see his work as spontaneous and carefree, his xerox aesthetic is actually intentional, aiming to reveal the cracks beneath the surface. When you open Interview Magazine to the masthead page, you can feel Kurt’s desire to push boundaries, allowing illustrations, images, and fonts to merge and create a lasting impact.

The Legacy of Interview Magazine

Interview Magazine, founded by Andy Warhol in 1969, has always been known for its striking style and unfiltered celebrity interviews. Current Editor-in-Chief Mel Ottenberg discovered the magazine at a hair salon in Washington, D.C. when he was just 11 years old. Despite being labeled as “pornographic trash” by his hairdresser, Mel was drawn to the magazine’s raw and honest approach. Sadly, Interview Magazine folded in May 2018.

Kurt Woerpel Revitalizes Interview Magazine

After its relaunch in September, Interview Magazine is once again captivating readers with its urgent and sensory-rich content. The conversations between an eclectic mix of celebrities, such as Miley Cyrus, Jonathan Franzen, and Andy Cohen, are refreshingly irreverent and offbeat. Working alongside Editor-in-Chief Mel Ottenberg and the team, Kurt Woerpel has helped restore Interview Magazine’s legacy of raw glamour. He has also pushed the boundaries of magazine making, experimenting with every possible element of design and presentation.

Watch the interview with Kurt Woerpel here:

To read the full interview with Kurt Woerpel, visit this Monster Children article.