Thomas Baumgärtel (1960) - 5 DM Banane

Thomas Baumgärtel (born 1960), 5 DM Banana, 2020.

Two-colour stencil graffiti (pochoir) on a 5-DM banknote (6.2 x 12.2 cm),
90 copies, signed, numbered and stamped.

Condition: Good condition. The banknote may have minor tears or creases, as these are used banknotes that have circulated in payments.

Note: Images are exemplary – the edition number may vary.

After Thomas Baumgärtel’s first Banana pochoir in 2002, the 5-DM note appeared; 18 years later the edition of 2020. The banknote shows the Brandenburg Gate of Berlin with an “embedded” Musa of the “Banana Sprayer” as stencil graffiti on the back of original, 1991-printed banknotes with Bettina von Arnims portrait on the front.

Biography
1985 to 1990 studies in Free Art at the Cologne University of Applied Sciences (FH Köln) and up to 1995 Psychology at the University of Cologne. Since 1986 the Cologne-based artist, under the pseudonym “Banana Sprayer,” marks art venues in European cities as well as in New York and Moscow – to date over 4000. From 1995 he develops the “Banana Pointillism” – painting with small stencil-sprayed bananas on canvas. Actions on public squares with large banana sculptures such as, e.g., “We Love the High Church” at the main portal of Cologne Cathedral (1998); since 2002 he has projected for Berlin: “We Love the Unification” at the Brandenburg Gate.