Angekommen

Schön, dass Venedig uns am Bahnhof Santa Lucia auf Bayerisch begrüßt, wenn auch mit Schreibfehler und exotischer Interpunktion: Itz samma do!

Just arrived
Nice to be welcomed in Bavarian by Venice’s train station Santa Lucia, albeit with spelling mistakes and exotic punctuation: there we are!

Zweitverwertung

Heute ist der letzte Tag der Ausstellung von Werken des ghanaischen Künstlers El Anatsui im Haus der Kunst in München. Um eines der Ausstellungsstücke akkurat zu zeichnen, würde ich vermutlich länger brauchen als es dauerte, es herzustellen, denn seine Werke bestehen meist aus Tausenden zu Plättchen und Ringen verformten Flaschenverschlüssen und bedecken oft fast völlig die riesigen Wandflächen des HdK. Ich habe es mir daher ein wenig einfacher gemacht, so dass ich danach mehr Zeit hatte, selbst eine Flasche zu leeren. Das war dann zwar keine Kunst, aber dennoch schön.

Recycling
Today is the last day of the exhibition of works by the Ghanaian artist El Anatsui at the Haus der Kunst in Munich. In order to accurately draw one of the exhibits it would probably take longer than it took to make it, because the works usually consists of thousands of bottle caps shaped into platelets and rings and often almost completely cover the huge wall surfaces of the HdK. So I made it a little easier for me to have more time afterwards to empty a bottle myself. Not quite an art, but it was beautiful too.

Gut zu wissen

Ich verlange ja gar nicht, dass sie Lagen schwimmen kann. Brustschwimmen wäre gut, toter Mann nicht so.

Good to know
Life-saving equipment. Floatable bank. – I do not ask for individual medley. Breast stroke would be good, dead man’s float rather not.

Aus meinem Archiv (4)

Leider habe ich damals in den 90ern nicht mehr aus diesen Figuren gemacht. Ein paar Skizzen gibt es noch. Vielleicht zeichne ich sie irgendwann mal fertig.

From my archive – What happened so far: On Christmas Eve of 1954, a mysterious letter was delivered to Professor Sartorius (the brother-in-law of the President) by an likewise mysterious messenger. Two days later, Lady Bridget Baloney disappeared without a trace. Sartorius was forced to intervene. Would his opponents reveal themselves this time? – Soon after: One evening Clumsy found a book. She showed it to her friends Corpse and Clubfoot. Both were very happy. Clumsy shared her enthusiasm. (Unfortunately, I did not work out those characters back in the 90s, there are some sketches left, maybe I’ll finish them someday.)

Aus meinem Archiv (3)

Vor gut und gerne 25 Jahren entstanden, als ich noch Steinmetz war und nicht jeden Abend in der Kneipe meinen Frust in Bier ertränken konnte. Also hab ich halt solchen Blödsinn gemacht.

From my archive – Clumsy, Corpse & Club. What had happened so far: Off the coast of Tahiti, Admiral John Garlic (the presidential brother-in-law) had been hit by a heavy storm. Only with difficulty his brave crew could persuade him to board a lifeboat. When the proud Mary-Ann Brunswick finally sank into the flood, even the admiral had to crush so many tears. – Meanwhile: what am I doing? Is there a deeper meaning in that? Is it indifference? Things just happen. It’s so hard to really have control. Maybe someone wants to say something? „Go home and wash yourself.“ „Yeah!“
(Created about 25 years ago, when I was still a stonemason and could not drown my frustration in beer in the pub every evening. So I just fabricated such nonsense)

Was bei der Schöpfung übrig blieb (6)

Nachdem Gott die ganze Welt von oben bis unten mit Nordmanntannen zugestellt hatte, weil er deren Farbe beruhigend fand und er den Anblick seiner ganz und gar misslungenen Schöpfung einfach nicht mehr ertrug, standen plötzlich zwei Nervensägen von der Unteren Naturschutzbehörde vor der Tür und meinten, das ginge so aber gar nicht, das sei ja eine monströse Monokultur und inzwischen seien schon mehr als 95 Prozent aller Arten ausgestorben und ob er sich über die Konsequenzen klar sei. Dann drohten sie ihm mit einer empfindlichen Geldstrafe, schlimmstenfalls sogar mit Enteignung und zogen wieder ab. Also nahm er hier und da ein paar Bäume heraus und ließ sie am Straßenrand liegen. Sollte sich doch die Müllabfuhr darum kümmern. – Noch heute feiern die Leute dieses Ereignis, indem sie jedes Jahr im Februar riesige Haufen aus Nadelbäumen errichten.

What was left over at creation – After God had covered the whole world from top to bottom with Caucasian firs, because he found their color soothing and he just could not stand the sight of his totally failed creation, suddenly two nuisances of the Lower Conservation Authority appeared outside the front door and said that it was not alright, that it was a monstrous monoculture and that more than 95 percent of all species have now been extinct and whether he was aware of the consequences. Then they threatened him with a sensitive fine, in the worst case even with expropriation and withdrew. So he took out a few trees here and there and left them at the roadside. Let the garbage collection take care of it. People are still celebrating this event by building huge piles of conifers each year in February.

Aus meinem Archiv (2)

Vermutlich irgendwann in den 90ern als Geschenk entstanden, aber ich weiß leider nicht mehr für wen. Hinweise nimmt jedes Reisebüro entgegen.

From my archive – Shadows are everywhere. Big ones, little ones. Every shit has one. And every fart. Only shadows have none. Some shadows have to stay awake at night. This one for example. The nose shadow of Mr. M. – Mr. M. never leaves his lantern. During the day Mr. M. is sleeping, but his nose shadow never sleeps! How he wishes to see the sun once. But the nose always gets in his way. In the evening Mr. M. has got a problem. A prosthesis helps. Mr. M. spends a quiet evening, while his nose shadow enjoys himself.
(Probably originated sometime in the 90s as a gift, but unfortunately I do not remember who I did it for.)