With his jokes, he makes countless generations laugh on stage and screen. Perhaps not all of his fans know that Otto Waalkes is also a talented artist and studied painting at the University of Fine Arts in Hamburg. After all, with the Ottifanten, Waalkes created a well-known motif that he has celebrated for 50 years. The four-legged friends are now also the protagonists in his new book “Very Great Art”.
In it, Waalkes takes famous paintings and alters them according to his ideas. It’s about “giving the Ottifants the place in art history that they deserve,” says the 75-year-old. In his opinion, the funny elephants also belong on masterpieces such as Vermeer’s painting “The Girl with a Pearl Earring.” Instead of a pearl earring, Otto wears an ottoman on her ear. Whether Boticelli, Paul Klee or Banksy: Waalkes places his Ottifianten in different eras and styles. He sees his book as a “homage to the great artists” – and as an “attempt to combine art and comedy.”
Otto Waalkes will be a live guest at the book fair from 1:30 p.m. In the talk format “The 30-Minute Shared Share” from stern and Penguin Randomhouse, he speaks with stern editor David Baum. The guests tomorrow Sunday are:
This is “The 30-minute shared apartment”: Stern and the publishing group Penguin Randomhouse invite 50 authors to “The 30-minute shared apartment”. We stream the half-hour conversations live from the book fair. Included are, among others, Bärbel Schäfer, Guido Maria Kretschmer and Désirée Nick. Other guests in the 30-minute book talks include successful authors such as Peter Wohlleben, Terézia Mora and Jan Weiler.
You can find the complete program here.
