 |
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
LEBENSLAUF BIS GESTERN / CURRICULUM VITAE UNTIL YESTERDAY
|
1958
1964
1965/75
1976
1977/80
1980
1981
1982
1984
ab 1985
|
In Berlin (Ost) geboren / Born in East Berlin
Erste Orientierungsläufe durch die Stadt / First orientation runs through the city
Schreiben und Lesen gelernt / Learning to read and to write
Wegen Ungehorsams gegenüber dem Vaterland zu einem Jahr Zuchthaus verurteilt / Due to a lack of disobedience towards his mother country condemned to one year in prison
Andora versucht, ein guter Staatsbürger zu werden, stellt dies durch Ausübung verschiedener Berufe als Totengräber, Heizer, Küster, Stationshelfer und Fahrstuhlführer unter Beweis / Andora tries to become a good citizen and demonstrates this by practising different professions like grave-digger, stoker, sexton, ward assistant and lift-attendant
Erneute Inhaftierung und Ausbürgerung aus der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik / Put into prison again and later exiled from the German Democratic Republic
Erster ernsthafter Versuch, einen schönen Beruf zu erlernen / First serious attempt to learn a nice profession
Erste Reisen und Zurschaustellungen in verschiedenen Ländern Europas / First journeys and presentations of himself in various European countries
Andora schließt sein Studium ab und gibt sogleich den Versuch auf, ein ordentliches Mitglied der Gesellschaft zu werden / Andora finishes his studies and at the same time abandons his attempt to become an orderly member of society
Beginn der Schaffensperiode aus 24 Stunden Tagen, deren Ende nicht absehbar ist / Start of the creative period with ist 24-hour days whose end cannot be foreseen
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Andora
Born on the 7th June 1958 in East-Berlin
Pop-Artist
His art is colourful and flashy; he is eccentric, a little bit narcissistic and whacked out. That's at least what the media see in him. That s o.k. Andora wants to attract attention, in fact he must stand out. As self proclaimed pop-artist his image is literally his capital.
Andora does not have to do much to get into the media. Making headlines seems to run in his blood. Browsing his CV, it seems to scream for a proper biography.
This man was a millionaire, driving luxury cars and living in the most expensive hotels worldwide; but he was also a liftboy and a gravedigger. He went to GDR-prison as a dissident in the former Eastern German regime and four years ago he got more headlines with a cocaine-scandal. Not forgetting he is also a trained Cosmonaut.
He basically created his career for being a pop-artist on a drawing table. Before he had been trying for years to be a writer, without talent, he admits today. So he looked around in the art scene: What was I to do? Canvas was already painted. So I put my pictures in motion.
And so he started to paint shoes with colourful cranky figures. Red, green and blue faces, sometimes with two eyes, sometimes with only one. Later he found other objects from everyday life, in a totally pop-art manner, like Mercedes state coaches, racing cars, mopeds, Henry Maske's boxing coat and even a Russian transport rocket in the space station of Balkonur. His credo: To revive anonymous bulk and give it its own soul.
Originally Andora wanted to go to the art academy in West Berlin when friends asked him, if he wanted to come to Hanover. Hanover? Just a minute! Who's in Hanover? Timm Ulrichs is going to retire and Kurt Schwitters is dead. Ingenious! he remembers in his unique Berlin accent winking his eye. Why bother with 5.000 other colleagues in Berlin? I'll go to Hanover.
Andora can't think of anything really bad about his adopted country. Surely Andora and Hanover was not a love match, more a marriage of convenience, but it doesn't really bother the cosmopolite. Still sometimes he turns his back on Hanover. Getting older it drives me more and more to coffee houses. That's why I go to Vienna now. Andora has always been unresting. Six years and he couldn't endure New York anymore, three years and Moscow became too much for him. An artist who doesn't move is no artist.
Always moving against the current, that's how his parents experienced him already as a teenager. Andora grew up in a shattered worker's family in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) former Eastern Germany. His father, a house painter, his mother a cook; sometimes he lived with his mother then with his father, finally he ended up living with his Grandma. There was always trouble between the parents as their son always rubbed somebody up the wrong way at school. I didn't want to join the Stasi (state security service) club to play football, so I joined Union Berlin (another football club). Again there was trouble. Andora was disgusted with his parents, true to party principles. Either the GDR is going to change or I have to change. And that was that.
At the latest when Andora had conscientious objection to military service the Stasi eyed Andora very closely. Critical texts finally put him behind bars. In 1980 the unloved state citizen was evicted. With two plastic bags the then 20 year old came to West Berlin.
But even later Andora came into conflict with the law. Four years ago he admitted in front of a judge in Hanover: Yes, I have sniffed coke. It had been a very stressful time, the 48-year-old remembers. One of his art objects, a seven Meter high Lower Saxony steed in Andora-style had to get ready for the world exhibition. But the day didn't have enough hours so Andora reached for cocaine. Today he doesn't have any problems with it anymore, he says, and has no problem talking about it.
Andora has almost no dreams left - as most have already been fulfilled. I have seen it all, eaten all, and boozed all. My work is all that matters. And his loved ones, who he doesn t want to be shown in public; in this respect he remains monosyllabic. Only this much: He has a daughter who already made him a Grandpa seven years ago.
A quiet little place, however, that's what he wants. He's going to be 80-odd years before that happens, surely! But even then nobody should ever state to know Andora. That's where I have to disappoint people. Andora is unwieldy. Nothing on earth can get a grip on Andora.
|
|
