Thomas Baumgärtel (1960) - 5 DM Banane

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

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

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

Following Thomas Baumgärtel's first banana pochoir on the 2002 farewell 5-DM note, the 2020 edition appears 18 years later. The banknote shows the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin with an embedded Musa of the “Banana Sprayer” as stencil graffiti on the back of original, 1991-printed notes with Bettina von Arnim's portrait on the front.

Biography
1985 to 1990 studied Free Art at the Cologne University of Applied Sciences (FH Köln) as well as psychology at the University of Cologne until 1995. Since 1986 the Cologne artist, under the pseudonym “Banana-Sprayer,” marks places of art in European cities as well as in New York and Moscow – to date over 4000. From 1995 he developed the “Banana Pointillism” – painting with small stencil-sprayed bananas on canvas. Public square actions with large banana sculptures such as “We love the High Church” at the main portal of Cologne Cathedral (1998); since 2002 he has been projecting for Berlin: “We love the Union” at the Brandenburg Gate.