Thomas Baumgärtel (1960) - 5 DM Banane

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

Two-tone stencil graffito (stencil) 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 it is a used banknote that has been in circulation.

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

According to Thomas Baumgärtel's first Banana Pochoir in 2002, a 5 DM note was issued, and 18 years later, the 2020 edition appears. The banknote depicts the Brandenburg Gate of Berlin with the "embedded" Musa of the "Banana Sprayer" as stencil graffiti on the back of original banknotes printed in 1991, featuring Bettina von Arnim's portrait on the front.

Biography
From 1985 to 1990, he studied Fine Arts at the Cologne University of Applied Sciences and until 1995 Psychology at the University of Cologne. Since 1986, the Cologne artist has marked art locations in European cities, as well as in New York and Moscow, under the pseudonym "Banana-Sprayer" – over 4,000 to date. Starting in 1995, he developed "Banana Pointillism" – painting with small stencil-sprayed bananas on canvas. Actions in public spaces with large banana sculptures, such as "We Love the High Church" at the main portal of Cologne Cathedral (1998); since 2002, he has projected for Berlin: "We Love the Union" at the Brandenburg Gate.