WTF - What the fake

The painter and performance artist Dirk Baumanns has not had an exhibition for five years. Even though he is notorious and far better known for his performances in Frankfurt, he has a considerable oeuvre of paintings to his name.

The obsession with making art did not stop five years ago when he began to simply take his paintings to the streets. For the first global climate strike, he launched his first action with the painting "Mona Greta" in Frankfurt. Greta Thunberg in place of Lisa del Giocondo was subsequently voted one of the best strike signs worldwide by The Guardian and The Independent. Mona Greta was seen by thousands of people at demonstrations in Hamburg and Lützerath and appeared several times in the press. These included the Hamburger Abendblatt, Hamburger Morgen Post, NDR, Frankfurter Rundschau, FNP, Bild, HR, 3SAT, etc. None of his paintings have been seen more often in the press, with the aim of auctioning them off at some point to the highest bidder for environmental protection.

Further paintings based on old masterpieces that thematise climate change became known through Baumann's actions. Even Hessischer Rundfunk was unable to escape the magical effect of his paintings. With Photoshop, Baumanns was able to hang his paintings in the most famous museums. His works, compared to their counterparts in the most sacred art halls in the world, did not fail to make an impact on social media. The series of paintings is intended to communicate climate change permanently in museums.

In his exhibition at the Kunstverein Familie Montez, Dirk Baumanns is showing these and other recent works on deceptions, imitations, simulations and other excesses of the digital age.