GERMAN SWINE! BY JULIE DAMGA...
German Swine!by Julie Damgaard Nielsen, 2002
“I’m in the habit of saying muh to people, who haven’t got the faintest idea what I mean”. With these words the 27-year-old artist Andreas Schulenburg manages to indicate several of his basic points of departure: a pitch-black humour, a childlike mind, a contempt of authorities, a love for animals, an investigation into the banal instead of the traditional, a toying with misunderstanding, a testing of boundaries, a wrestling of confrontation, a specification of cultural differences and a challenge of the art scene. “I was born in Hamburg, Germany, and did not move to Denmark until I was 20 years old. I have, however, spend several summer holidays on Жrш* while growing up, and the differences between the city and the country, Germany and Denmark, have made a big impression”, Schulenburg tells openly. “I remember the other children throwing stones at my siblings and I, crying German swine. In Hamburg I was anonymous; on Жrш on the other hand, everybody knew who I was - and did not really accept me. I’m partly Danish but was soon made aware of not being truly Danish. At the same time I also began seeing Germany in a different light and discovered an incredibly guilty culture. All this resulted in me fighting an inward identity battle and even today the aspect of contrast or compound is an essential part of my work”. A classic example of Schulenburg’s absurd fusions is the story about the two cloned animals’ - Sogokken and Svinehanen (the Sowchick and the Pigcock) eventful journey to Australia.
The childhood experiences in Жrш didn’t knock out Schulenburg. Instead of being cowed by the other children’s actions and abusive language he chose to see the fun in it and take it with a pinch of humour. He has no doubts that even heavy subjects become easier to digest provided you add a touch of irony. In his comic strips, watercolours, animation films and videos Schulenburg makes use of politically charged statements and tabooed topics, and so humour is an indispensable ingredient. “Making fun is my way of breaking the ice”, he explains. The kindergarten-aesthetic touch that Schulenburg conveys to the artworks also helps to soften the now and then rather coarse statements. The innocent form and saturated colouring, which point to the artistic displays of childhood allows the artist even more freedom as far as the content goes. In the picture Entschuldigung (Sorry) Schulenburg has depicted himself as an orthodox Jew and underneath written the word Entschuldigung in nazi-inspired, sinuous, coloured letters. The work stresses the disturbing fact that even the younger, innocent generations of Germans is still being held responsible for past sins.
The comic strips, however, hold a special place in Schulenburg’s heart. “Everything is possible in comic strips and ‘splatter scenes` are considerably more accepted here than in any other media.” Conscious of the fact that it is much easier to deliver a cogent message through a neutral and innocent animal Schulenburg, in his strip cartoons, readily uses animals as mouthpieces for humans. Pornography, politics and other pithy topics are thus taken up for treatment without the slightest fear of contact or squinting at political correctness. “I am tugging at Danish nationality”, Schulenburg proclaims. “Denmark is a small country with only one history and common traditions and values. The only ‘cultural differences` that have so far been mentioned are the ones between the rural areas and the city and logically they are the result of rather hackneyed stereotyped prejudices. All along cosiness has been the uniting power and only recently new frightening scenarios have triggered off a public debate on issues such as incest, nationalism and nervousness towards foreigners. One of Schulenburg’s latest works Dannebrog with a swastika-like appearance hints at the new intonation in the debate on foreigners and his stuffed camel with the No Parking-sign and the sown on, bazooka-armed Bedouin selling pizza hits us smack in the face with its indication of the preconceived opinions and obdurate attitudes of Western society. Schulenburg shows no interest in art that solely refers to itself. For that reason the German artist Hans Haacke is a great source of inspiration to him. From Haacke he has learned to incorporate his political ideas into the artwork and the consistency and artistic intensity that the almost 70-year-old Haacke still displays inspire Schulenburg with great respect.
It is important to Andreas Schulenburg to keep furnishing the art scene with new elements. He emphasizes creativity and energy rather than consistent finish. Spelling- and compositional mistakes are not corrected as they only stress the immediacy of the works. It is part of the story, though, that several of the works are made in dynamic collaboration with other artists, and that there is no time for fiddling with particulars. “I have made several comic strips with Mads Steen and Jonas Fromm and sometimes we are working on 4 or 5 stories at a time. I do not fall under the category of artists that sit slaving away in some mysterious universe. Dialogue, compromises and acceptance of other peoples efforts belong to the order of the work.”
The narrative sequences of Schulenburgs works often take as the point of departure actual incidents but ultimately end in imaginative constructions. In this they bear resemblance to the writing of fairytales, which Schulenburg is in fact very fascinated by: “Grimms’ Fairytales is my Bible. The tales have been written down after having been passed on through generations. Here and there the content has become so satiated with symbols that it borders on incomprehensibility and yet you know that the story originates in realities. I have no objections to nonsense in a narrative as long as certain seriousness also shows through.”
* A tiny island in Denmark