Benediction of Saint Stephan the Drunk

The altar I used in two exhibitions in 2013, the works that were part of it. I will make a bigger one next time – because bigger is better, amiright?

‘NebenanSicht …Das Leben an sich’ – Exhibition MFG – Bahnhof Lichtenberg 2013

New Expo, the other one is about a year ago. This time with the group gathered around the Movement for Galleries project here in Berlin (MFG).

It is going to be in Bahnhof Lichtenberg – the official opening is going to be on the 14th of september at 19.00 hours, there will be a sneak preview at the 7th of september at 19.00 hours and there will be another event at the 21st of september at 18.00 hours (The Artweek Special). It will be open every weekend More info at the Berlin-MFG website.

I also send an artwork to Hotel Bogota to give my support. It will be part of the auction at the 22nd of september.

The works I show both at the Bahnhhof Lichtenberg and at the Hotel Bogota all have frames that are especially made for the artworks. Apart from posters and postcards, I only want to present works with their own frame, a frame that is part of the artwork.

Saint Stephan the Drunk – Framed 2013-1

Materials: Wood, fiber composite material, paint, cardboard, rusted metal parts, cloth, print
Print: Photolux Professional Matte 230
Print-size middle panel: 90 cm * 60 cm
Print-size side panels: 45 cm * 60 cm
Total-size: appr. 250 cm * 95 cm
Based on: Saint Stephan the Drunk, Lets call it Paradise, Fallen from Grace

Saint R. (2012 – 2013)

Train tracks going through a city are at the same time part of the city and not part of the city: a city is build for people, but you can not live there, you are not even allowed there. Same goes for high ways, sub-way tunnels and garbage dumps. I sometimes use these places as symbols for the border lands of our society.

A border separates and also creates order: these people belong over there and we live over here, and -according to some-that is how it is supposed to be. Certain thinkers have pointed out that Europe has the tendency to create places where that what does not fit in society will be banished to, like the terminally ill, the mentally unstable, the disabled, those with grotesque appearances and the criminal minds. These are the places where that what is deemed unclean, unholy, non-rational and unacceptable is expelled to, surrounded by a set of boundaries of their own.

Most of the times people are put there against their will. But there are also people who choose to step outside of the grandeur Europe/the western world has to offer, and they try to create their own place of refuge with their own rules.

Saint Stephan the Drunk – Triptychon (2010-2012)

He was robbed and died about a year after I made the photos this triptychon was based on. He has seen the first results of my work, but never the finished project. He is still on my facebook feed. If I send him my prayers in a direct message, will he pass them on to god for me? I’m not sure I want the winged guys on either side of him to be my messengers, but maybe that is just me.

I wrote the following about the piece in 2015 for an exhibition (translated in German):

“Der heilige Stefan der Besoffene (2012/2013) ist ein Porträt von einem der vielen die der Filmriss zum Lebensentwurf gemacht haben. Sind sie Kinder der Sechziger auf der Suche nach Selbstauflösung, sind sie kranke Süchtigen oder sind sie Schamanen/Propheten in ihrem Rausch? Ist diese Symbolik ein Gespenst unserer Vergangenheit oder zeigt es eine Zukunft? Oder was gewesen ist, ebendas wird sein, und was geschehen ist, ebendas wird geschehen, und es gibt gar nichts Neues unter der Sonne.”

Size: 80 x 60 cm @300dpi
Pixelsize: 9449 px * 7087 px
Origin: Composition made with photos, some 3D