Untitled Paint Art I Painting by Santa & Cole

In 1997, the German real estate savings bank Deutsche Bauspar AG in Frankfurt published a splendid series of graphic works aimed at raising public awareness of the need to improve artistic and architectural requirements in the creation of urban spaces. The organising institution invited ten internationally renowned artists and architects to express their ideas and proposals on the design of an imaginary public square or the improvement of an existing one in a graphic work.

This work is linked to his 1987 contribution to the aforementioned sculpture competition in Munster. It consisted of a river boat surrounded by a water moat. With this ensemble Gerdes alluded to the water castles in the region of Munster, the river barges that run through its canals and, metaphorically, to the fragile foundation of human existence. In the present work, he brings together - highlighting it with colour - the vital element of the boat that has become home and part of nature, inserting it, as a further requirement for domestic use, into the urban environment of the public square. A plea for the necessary symbiosis of architecture, tradition and surrounding nature.

12 Weeks