Charly Banana in cooperation with Ralf Johannes

This small catalogue follows the usual pattern for RealismusStudio publications. The cover advertises the exhibition at the nGbK in the winter of 1983, there is a brief biography of Charly Banana (born Ralf Johannes), a bibliography and an exhibition list. This is followed by numerous illustrations in color and black-and-white, texts by the artist, and an introduction by the working group, who write: “Charly Banana’s method of tracking down the clichés and neuroses of human behavior, as well as the strategies and stereotypes of marketing, in the trivial and the profane manifests in his pictures via observation and narrative, full of grotesque humor and on-point provocation.” This sense of comedy is also reflected in titles like Damit ist die Vampirnummer auch abgehakt (Vampire act? Check!), Explosion in der Gummi-Plastik-Liebeslauben-Garniture (Explosion in the rubber-plastic-lovenest-outfit), or Kuck da bloss nicht hin Paul, so ne Sauerei, komm wir gehen sofort (Don’t look over there Paul, whatever you do, what a disgrace, let’s get out of here).

Ed.: nGbK

Work group: Valdis J. Āboliņš, Michael Elsen, Ursula Frohne, Udo Ropohl, Barbara Straka

With contributions by: Arbeitsgruppe RealismusStudio, Charly Banana/Ralf Johannes