August 2004
Hi,
Have to start with a few words on H C B who has just died aged 95: the man was a hero to me before I knew anything at all, and probably was the greatest direct influence on my work...was, is, and I guess will always be!
Meanwhile, five openings in five bars, five nights in a row! A hectic week but it´s finally over, and now I can sit in peace with a coffee in the only bar I know where they make it right, and put pen to paper to fill you in. The real work was getting it all together, which took about six months...that´s all the stuff I sent to the PM from the beginning of 1999 until the end of 2003 reprinted to the same format and style, all texts translated and bound together with copies of the original 55 articles - a full set available in each venue, sponsors successfully hassled, every image re-scanned, media informed, stuff transported here and there...in fact, the 'exhibition marathon', as the local newspaper called it, was quite relaxing in comparison, despite wobbling home on my bike about 5a.m. each morning...but to sleep until I felt like getting up and heading back to town to hang the next sequence in the next bar.
Tech stuff: 30x40cm RC Tetenal paper, image c.16x24cm. Two to four backing boards 60x1700 or 2300cm. Mounting system: white drawing pins (if you´re wondering, the idea was to keep to the concept of "the postcard"...ok?)
The publicity was pretty good really better than I could have expected, and the public response was...well, loads of friends, old faces and strangers too. The Germans, many of whom of course didn´t know that someone would write this long to NZ about life in Germany were apparently quite intrigued. More may yet come of this but I´ll let you know if and when (but in Germany...don´t hold your breath...!)
So, for now it´s time to enjoy the wonderful and long overdue Summer - a cruise on a gondola, anyone? Nope we aren´t in Venice - this baby´s right here, drifting down 'my' Karl Heine Canal in Leipzig - the canal of another project as yet unfinished (the canal AND the project!).
"Back to work then!"
Right.
Dean