Artist places big, cardboard bananas at art galleries to signify artistic greatness.
Fruit scoop “Alles Banane,” or poppycock, thought Thomas Baumgärtel in 1983, as the young artist observed the ridiculously climbing prices in the art market. An artist in his own right, Baumgärtel began to detest the growing snob appeal of his discipline — visits to posh galleries in his native Cologne had become intolerable. So Baumgärtel decided to do something about it. He began to spray paint bananas on the walls of his favorite galleries, especially those that featured young artists and their non-commercial work . “But soon I had marked all the ones in Cologne I liked,” explains the 38-year-old artist, “so I moved on to other cities in Germany.” But while Baumgärtel admired the galleries he marked, he was unpopular with some owners. In 1992, he was incarcerated in Munich for one night charged with vandalism. “I thought that would be the end of my career as a banana painter, but the next day I paid a small fine and was set free.” What began as persecution against established art circles became, as Baumgärtel calls it, “my personal sign of quality given to alternative galleries.” In the last few years, the “banana guy” has been flying all over the world to award his yellow prizes. He receives angry letters from art facilities, not because he marred their facades with the tropical graffiti, but because he did not “bananarize” their galleries. Baumgärtel will never forget his trip to Moscow. Having never been there, he was surprised to find nearly every gallery sporting its own banana. It seems the Russian gallery owners had faked the fruits to increase business. And what about Munich? Baumgärtel has not been here for many years. But he promises: “I will be in Munich very soon, You’ll see!” <<< SSt