GÜNTHER SCHAEFER
SHORT BIOGRAPHY
Born: 1954 March 19th in Ebern, Franconia, Germany
EDUCATION
Photography, book and offset printing, design
Since 1977 Freelance work in photography,
fine art and multi-media-art in Frankfurt/M, Berlin and New York.
Since 1986 Appointed member in the Federal Association of Artists of the Fine
Arts / Germany.
Since 1986 More than 150 national and international art actions, individual and
group exhibitions inter alia in:
New York / USA (Columbia University), Moscow / USSR (Art Action Gallery), Paris / F (Grand Palais), Jerusalem / IL (1th
international
Photo-Fair in Israel), Beirut / RL (Goethe Institute), Tripoli / RL (Goethe Institute), Ein Hod / IL
(Marcel Janca
Dada Museum), Salzburg / A (University), Berlin / D (East Side Gallery), Frankfurt a. M / D (Paulskirche), Waco / USA (TV
production / CBS-News), Eisenach / GDR (House of the Border
Guards), Cologne / D (Fair: Photokina), Potsdam /
(Embassy of Venezuela), Prague / CZ (Gallery Miro), Berlin / D (Embassy of Hungary), Frankfurt a. M. / D (McCann-Erick-
son), Hengelo / NL (Culture Center), Maastricht / NL (Gallery Onyva), Chicago / USA (Gallery Inspire Fine Art), Leipzig / D
(Book fair).
Since 1990 Resident in Berlin.
1990 Co-founder of the East Side Gallery,
the world largest open-air gallery, located at the Berlin Wall.
1990 Protection of historical
monument for the East Side Gallery painting “Vaterland” (Fatherland).
1996 Co-founder and member of the
board of the Artists’ Initiative East Side Gallery e. V.
2000 Appointment as Berlin-Ambassador
for the Berlin district Friedrichshain.
2002 Honored by Federal President Johannes Rau in Bellevue Palace for his many years commitment for
the work
“Vaterland“
(Fatherland) at the Berlin Wall - East Side Gallery.
2007
Audience of Pope Benedict XVI in Cathedral
St. Peter / Vatican, Rome
2008
Paul-Singer-Price 2008
Günther Schaefer, who grew up near the border between the two Germanys, deeply felt the division of people and land. He
watched as Germans helped Germans flee from east to west. His own family
lived on both sides of the border and greeted each other with white linen
hanging out from a special visitors platform on Sundays.
He studied book printing in Frankfurt / M and participated in the movement of the ‘68
generation. Then he went on to study photography and discovered his passion,
the art of black and white photography. He then subsequently worked for ten
years in the field of advertising. Afterwards he went to New York, but kept a joint studio with a friend in Frankfurt / M. When the Berlin wall fell in 1989 Schaefer happened to be there and
thus began the long-term project that reached its preliminary climax in 2004, the fifteen years anniversary of the fall
of the “Iron Curtain,” when he published his photo history of Berlin. He left Frankfurt / M far behind: "A German who once has lived
in New York can only live in Berlin, everywhere else in his native country is simply
too small," For him photography is an art with the ability to destroy
illusions and awaken hope. He calls himself an eternal optimist, writing
history with pictures in black and white, which say something even beneath
the visible. It is a subjective reality, following his own development over
more than 16 years of observing and shooting his chosen home, Berlin, a metropolis of timeless symbols. Locations might
be repeated but the content
is always new. His work doesn't claim comprehensiveness in every field, but
depth and honesty to the subject, with the touch of beauty always apparent
even amidst the daily ugliness. His motto: "Think while you look, look
while you think!”
Schaefer achieved international fame in 1990 with
his Berlin Wall painting “Vaterland“ (Fatherland) which today is protected as
a historical monument. The painting is a combination of the German and
Israeli flags, 11 meters long and 3.5-meter tall, a symbol for peace and a
memorial against any kind of fanaticism. It is a work that relates to
November 9 in two ways: First, November
9, 1938, the day of the pogrom, the so-called
“Kristallnacht“ (Crystal Night); secondly, November 9, 1989, the fall
of the Berlin
Wall. “Vaterland“ (“Fatherland”) is the most provocative contribution to the
East Side Gallery, the last part of the Wall still standing. Since 1990, this
painting has been destroyed 44 times by variously motivated fanatics. The
artist keeps on answering these acts by renovating it, a form of non-violent
resistance. In 1996 he became a co-founder of the artists’ initiative East
Side Gallery e. V. As a member of the board he fights for the preservation of
the unique decaying monument of German separation, which at the same time is
the largest open-air gallery of the world. Since 1985, he has exhibited his
works in more than 150 national and international art actions, group and
single exhibitions. Since 1992, he has been a resident of
Berlin-Friedrichshain. In 2000, he was nominated a Berlin Ambassador whose
duty is to act as a representative of the citizens of Berlin with the
diplomatic corps.
In September 2004 the exhibition world tour of the
photo project: Berlin - “Pictures from two millennia“ commenced in the
embassy of Hungary in Berlin with ceremonial opening addresses by the former
Federal Chancellor of Germany Dr. Helmut Kohl and Miklós Neméth, the former
Prime Minister of Hungary. Guest of honour at this ceremony was the Federal
President of Germany, Horst Köhler.
|
