The unpredictable: Holger John shows his life's work

Important work in the GDR

Susanne Greinke, exhibition curator at the HfBK, says that the exhibits in the retrospective bear witness to John's work as well as his role in the city and the history of the university. Hand-drawn posters, for example, are remnants of the many art performances and party events that John once organized as a student at the university in the GDR.

He also played a leading role in the Dresden "Spring Salons", which gave students the opportunity to exhibit works far removed from the guidelines of the SED regime.

Drawings with an ink box from his grandmother in the West

Anyone listening to John quickly realizes that the exhibition is also an archive of his family and life. For example, there is the painted cupboard door, a remnant from an old fish smokehouse on the island of Usedom, where his parents lived with a couple of friends when they were young art students. For children's drawings, he used the ink box of "Grandma from the West": "I was the king because it contained gold and silver and nobody else had it," says John and laughs. Next to it are school papers and early studies: it's like going through the drawers of an artist's life.

The show does not follow a common thread, but rather resembles a ball of wool, according to John. He still sees himself "actually more as a draughtsman". He calls the paintings on paper, which are now the focus, "a strange but pleasurable excursion". Unmixed bright colors, applied to paper from a tube, stand in contrast to the man's appearance, who likes to dress completely in black with a hat.

Micky Maus in a Dynamo jersey

However, they complement his penchant for exaggerating motifs and short-circuiting art history with pop culture and slapstick. For example, when he adapts Edvard Munch's "The Scream" as Mickey Mouse in a Dynamo Dresden jersey or has "dowelled and screwed" Eva to the cross - instead of nailing her to it, "because it has to be modern". This is always accompanied by the sentence: "You can't actually dare to do that." That's exactly why he seems to enjoy it.

As an HfBK student, John already proved that he dares to do it: in his diploma defense, as he says himself. He took the concept of defense literally and had a lawyer represent him in front of the examination board instead of dutifully lecturing on colour selection and composition. According to his account, examinee John ended the presentation by playing a record of GDR pop music. "After that there was deathly silence. They discussed for two or three hours whether I should be stripped of my diploma. Two days later, I was assistant to the rector."

At 66: "Attack" instead of retirement

So the circle closes, so to speak, when John invites you to the vernissage and "Walpurgis Night" on Thursday evening (April 30) in the university rooms, which he himself calls "the sacred halls". The evening will follow the familiar John pattern: high culture meets party event and celebrities. Admission is free, with a welcome address from Saxony's Minister of Culture Barbara Klepsch (CDU) and music by LUYS - a young musician and band from Leipzig.

Otis Hagen, recently an actor and previously better known as the son of the "Godmother of Punk", Nina Hagen, will be in the DJ booth. The impresario assures us that although she herself was unable to attend, she was delighted that John named his show after one of her song lines.

John himself confesses that even after decades of creating, he still has "stage fright to the point of sinking" every time. "I'm always afraid that no one will show up. I'm totally excited, I really am." The question of whether he is thinking about quitting is an obvious one when someone of 66 shows his "Retrospective". His answer: "You either retire or go into a monastery or attack. I've always opted more for attack."

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