Thomas Baumgartel. Arbeiten zur Srpaybanane. 1986–1996

For Thomas Baumgartel, the Banana is the basic element, tool, sometimes also weapon — but one he uses with disarming humour, when he, for example, ennobles a purchaser of art to become a piece of art by means of a banana pin (“Every person is a piece of art”, 1997), when he seems to ram into the gate of the Cologne Cathedral with a banana sculpture weighing four tonnes (“We love High Church”, 1998), or when he uses the banana, intending to penetrate the Brandenburg Gate with (“We Love Re-Unification”, in planning stage).