MEGA – Make Europe Great Again // Stand with Ukraine // 2022 // ENGLISH

Those who know me are aware that most of my art is visually, technically, aesthetically and personally motivated.

My work basically never involves any political messages.

I usually leave such messages to others.

A few years ago during D. Trump’s election campaign, you could often see caps, t-shirts and posters with the slogan „MAGA“ – „Make America Great Again“.

One day, when I was standing in the „art department“ just before the exit of a Swedish furniture store, I saw a print of the painting „The Girl with the Pearl Earring“ by Jan Vermeer.

Here I got the idea for the first version of the painting „M€GA“.

It was the time of the Brexit negotiations and Europe was just about to lose an important member, which also happened in the end. During that time, I felt a strong urge to change my neutral approach and eventually add a political touch to my artworks.

And when Corona came along, I had an idea how I could express myself in this regard.

I bought the artprint and hung it across a large shelf with books and painting colours in it. It’s been hanging there for several years now.

Then came 2022 and the Ukraine conflict escalated into a full-grown war. When I took a closer look at the painting, I noticed the girl’s headdress, a blue and yellow turban.

The turban constitutes the central part of the painting, surrounded by the hanging-down fabric and a very dark background.

The portrait was to be overpainted with a Corona mask and the corresponding inscription „M€GA“. Given the magnificance of the original painting, I felt quite some pressure to really make my contribution live up to the inscription and produce a „M€GA“ painting!

I also wanted to add an olive branch in the right place. At the time I bought the print, the one star below the mask was to symbolize the fall of England and the country’s departure from the EU. Today, the fallen star could be viewed as a rising one. A symbol for the rise of Ukraine.

Now I keep asking myself one personal question:

„Will we dismiss this girl with the pearl earring, unknown to us, alone into the darkness or will Europe finally muster the courage to be the great beacon of morality on our planet. Can it become a reasonable balance between the currently repositioning superpowers of Russia, China and America?“

With this question I continue to observe the war as well as the development of our world every day and hope that our actions may end as soon as possible the suffering and death everywhere in the world. And especially in Ukraine.

May the silence of this image break the noise of war.
I am writing this text even before I have begun to paint the picture. I planned to paint this picture today, on 27 February 2022. However, I will mark it as painted on 24 February 2022.

Here is a making of video for this picture:

There is also an extended 30 minute long version of this making of. However, this version is only available as a bonus for the owners of an NFT for this picture. As an artist I have actually to this day kept a certain distance to the NFT area, but here the demand was so high that I decided to create an NFT which is limited to 100 pieces. The proceeds of the NFTs are added to the proceeds of the original!

Please follow the link below to Opensea. It is not quite so easy to register and make your purchase but it is definitely doable. And although 100$ per piece is certainly a good amount of money, keep in mind that it is for a good and important purpose: https://opensea.io/assets/matic/0x2953399124f0cbb46d2cbacd8a89cf0599974963/1517032568267746704230189243367507164988993374371824623855478093551081881700/

Although this text somehow got quite personal, I really just want to direct your attention to the war and the meaning behind the painting.

I would like to put this painting up for auction. All proceeds from the auction will go to an organization, aid project or other good purpose directly related to the victims of the Ukraine-Russia conflict. I want the citizens of Ukraine to benefit from this. And therefore I am giving the top bidder of this auction the possibility and responsibility to decide where this financial contribution should go.

Below is the link to the auction on eBay Germany:
https://www.ebay.de/itm/154882610892