For the exhibition “Beyond Fame. The Art of the Stars” in the NRW-Forum in Düsseldorf, curator Alain Bieber has selected works of art by 18 celebrities. You can see photos, paintings, drawings and sculptures. The mix of genres is as diverse as the range of artistic personalities, which includes musicians, actors, writers, sports stars and politicians.
How did he come up with the idea for the show? “We found it exciting to see all the people who are involved in art,” Bieber told DW. He admits that making visual art on celebrities is often a marketing ploy. “Ed Sheeran once did an action painting and Britney Spears once did some flower pictures while wearing a bikini,” he points out. However, for “Beyond Fame” he chose people who take art seriously.
Installation with paintings and a deer: View into a room by the German fashion designer Harald GlööcklerImage: Andreas Endermann
Among them are “big surprises”, he says, such as works by the German singer Tim Bendzko or the former tennis pro Michael Stich, which have never been shown in a museum. “You didn’t think they would paint like that.” None of the selected artists had ever attended an art school, he said. “We want to let our audience judge the works,” says Bieber. “We are looking forward to the reactions.”
Michael Stich at the exhibition “Beyond Fame. The Art of the Stars”Image: David Young/dpa/picture Alliance
Is every star an artist?
“We are cultivating Joseph Beuys’ expanded concept of art here,” explains Bieber, “who claims that everyone is an artist.” An example, he says, is the former Wimbledon winner, Stich. After retiring from tennis, he devoted himself to painting as a hobby, studied art history for two semesters and set up a studio. Stich said it took 10 years for his pictures to go public. “My art is a reflection of my personality and my emotions,” the exhibition organizers quote the former tennis pro as saying.
The paths that the selected personalities have taken to artistic expression are as diverse as the people themselves. And her choice of artistic medium is sometimes surprising. Some works are closely linked to their respective biographies. Some artists are at home in several creative fields at the same time. One of them is the German theater actress, author and visual artist Lea Drager. She draws images of popes, male and female, with which she questions patriarchal systems and hierarchical structures. The German actress Meret Becker works as a singer, actress and visual artist. Her work deals with social issues and she also campaigns for women’s rights.
Michael Costello, London (2011) by Bryan AdamsImage: Michael Costello
Musicians like Bryan Adams and Peter Doherty have sold millions of albums – and they’ve been creating visual art for many years. “Good photos are like time capsules that store memories,” Adams told the Düsseldorf Museum. Doherty, the scandal-plagued lead singer of British band The Libertines, sees art – alongside poetry – as “an expressive way of coming to terms with life”. He works with blood and charcoal and combines drawing, painting, sculpture and collages of images and texts.
Unknown facets of celebrities
The works of the Canadian musician Claire Elise Boucher aka Grimes are populated by fantasy characters – nymphs, cyborgs and manga characters – as she also portrays herself in her music videos. According to the museum, she draws inspiration from mythical and psychedelic images for her drawings and album covers, borrowing from figures and motifs from Art Nouveau and Surrealism and, more recently, also using artificial intelligence.
Whether as a counterweight or supplement: people in politics are also involved in art. The German Green Party politician Anton Hofreiter, for example, makes no secret of his enthusiasm for
Nature. Early in his political career he earned a doctorate in botany and paints and draws flowers. For him, the museum says, this is “a way to see how things really are.”
“Beyond Fame” promises to arouse curiosity about little-known facets of prominent contemporaries. “Some of our artists,” promises curator Bieber, “should soon be on view in other museums.” you just saw!”
The exhibition “Beyond Fame. The Art of the Stars” in the NRW Forum runs until January 24, 2024.
This article was translated from German.
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