He is one of Germany's very great comedians. His TV specials have made an audience of millions laugh, his records have won gold and platinum awards and his "Otto - Der Film" is one of the most successful German cinema films since audience figures began to be recorded. Live he always plays in front of sold-out halls and he has also celebrated great success as a dubbing artist. Since the early 1970s, Otto Waalkes has been one of Germany's most popular and successful artists. Just in time for the great comedian's 70th birthday, the Caricatura Museum Frankfurt is dedicating a beautiful exhibition to him. In it, the visual work of the "phenomenon Otto", as museum director Achim Frenz rightly calls the artist, is put in the spotlight.
Even though he became known for his programs on stage and television, the visual arts are inseparable from his work. Even in school, Otto was creative for the school newspaper. While trying to draw a self-portrait, the Ottifanten were born. This manifested his passion for drawing, which was awakened in him at an early age by American comic artists in particular. Initially, he only used the stage to finance his art studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Hamburg. But then came the big breakthrough - and the rest is history.
However, Otto Waalkes has never lost his passion for painting. His paintings primarily serve a purpose: they should make the viewers happy. He does not pursue a deeper meaning with them, said Otto Waalkes at the press conference for the exhibition. They are also not a mirror of his soul, but simply something he likes to do. As with his song parodies, he often quotes other artists when he paints. In well-known works he then incorporates himself, his ottifants or sometimes sloth Syd. Thus, one encounters many great works of art history in the exhibition, which look just a little bit different here. Also other artists like Udo Lindenberg, Marilyn Monroe and Michael Jackson, or movies like STAR WARS are thematized in Otto's pictures in an amusing way.
Mostly Otto paints with acrylic - mainly because for him with oil the drying of the colors takes too long. For the primer, Otto actually takes East Frisian tea - as befits a true Frisian boy. In this way he achieves a special patina effect, which gives the pictures that special something. More than 200 works are on display at the Caricatura Museum, which Otto Waalkes also attended when it opened ten years ago. Walking through the show, it quickly becomes clear that painting is not just a hobby for the comedian, but that the pictures were really created with a great deal of skill and passion. In addition to the painterly work, the exhibition also includes numerous sketches, record covers designed by Otto himself and some special exhibits such as an Ottifanten guitar. A really nice exhibition, which on the one hand is typical Otto, but at the same time shows another side of him. Definitely worth a look!
OTTO - THE EXHIBITION can be seen at the Caricatura Museum until September 2. For the NIGHT OF THE MUSEUMS there will be a nice special program with a concert by the Spardosen-Terzett, a reading by Pitt Knorr and an Ottifanten painting competition.
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