1001 PAINTINGS 11 TO 21

“011”

2004

320 x 170cm, oil

private collextion, Munich

On October 20, 1968, Jacqueline Kennedy married Aristotle Onassis, a Greek shipping tycoon, on Skorpios, Greece. Four and a half months earlier her brother-in-law, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, had been assassinated in Los Angeles. At that point, Jacqueline decided the Kennedys were being “targeted”, and that she and her children had to leave the United States. Marriage to Onassis appeared to make sense: he had the money and power to give her the protection she wanted, while she had the social cachet he craved. He ended his affair with opera diva Maria Callas to marry her. Jackie gave up Secret Service protection and franking privilege, to which a widow of a president of the United States is entitled, after her marriage to Onassis.

For a time, the marriage brought her adverse publicity and seemed to tarnish the image of the grieving presidential widow. However, others viewed the marriage as a positive symbol of the “modern American woman” who would not be afraid to look after her own financial interests and to protect her family...

“012”

2004

320 x 170cm, oil

Gallery Kroupa, Vienna

An early 1970s Spider-Man story led to the revision of the Comics Code. Previously, it was taboo to depict illegal drugs, even negatively. However, in 1970 the Nixon administration’s Department of Health, Education, and Welfare asked Stan Lee to run an anti-drug message in one of Marvel’s top-selling titles. Lee chose the top-selling The Amazing Spider-Man; issues #96–98 (May–July 1971) feature a story arc that shows the negative effects of drug abuse. In the story, Peter Parker’s friend Harry Osborn starts taking pills and becomes so ill that when Spider-Man fights the Green Goblin (Norman Osborn), Spider-Man defeats Norman by simply showing him his sick son. While the story had a clear anti-drug message, the Comics Code Authority refused to issue its seal of approval. Marvel nevertheless sold the three issues without the Comics Code Authority’s approval or seal and sold so well that the industry’s self-censorship was undercut by ...

“015”

2005

85 x 70 cm, oil

private collection, Hong Kong

Besides being a Prime Minister and the Chairman of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) Recep Tayyip Erdogan is a tradesman.He is the shareholder of three different firms. The first one is Emniyet Foods Inc., which distributes biscuits and chocolates produced by Ülker… The Erdogan family is controlling 50% of this companys capital. The second is Ihsan Foods Inc., which distributes the diary products of Ülker. Yenidogan Foods Marketing Inc., which is the third firm partially owned by Erdogan, started to operate early 2007 and distributes soft drinks produced by Ülker again. The Prime Minister holds 12% of the shares of this company, which has a capital of 100 billion TL…

“These commercial activities of the Prime Minister had no illegal aspect whatsoever. However, conformity with law does not always mean conformity with the public conscience and with clean and transparent politics… The laws of ethics in the West prevent prime ministers, ministers, and deputies from engaging in commercial activities.

According to numerous Turkish diplomats and officers in the Turkish General Staff, the Turkish military refuses to buy Ülker products for its conscripts so as not to subsidize Islamism. Nevertheless, since Erdogan’s accession, Ülker has become increasingly visible, perhaps as businesses seek the prime minister’s favor.

Across Istanbul and Ankara, Ülker’s ColaTurka has begun to replace Coca-Cola in kiosks and store shelves and in 2006 Ülker showed an impressive year to year 83% revenue growth.

Ülker also is a member of the MUSIAD (The Industrialists and Businessmen’s Association) working in support of the Turkish economy but with an added purpose of supporting Muslim business values and building strong trade ties with the Muslim world.

The group, whose collective membership produces more than 10 percent of Turkey’s gross domestic product, has the same Islamist roots as the governing Justice and Development Party. It emphasizes “ethical” business — the idea that commerce should not be dissociated from religion.

Large firms deemed un-Islamic or pro-Western by the ruling party’s advisors have also been subject to arbitrary taxation and penalty unsupported by any financial regulation or audit. The government has targeted beer manufacturer Efes and the local Coca-Cola bottler, while promoting products manufactured by companies deemed Islamist. Turkish Airlines once served Coca-Cola on its flights. According to flight attendants, at the request of the government, it increasingly substitutes Cola Turka, a brand owned by Ülker...

“016”

2004

80 x 70 cm, oil

private collection, Hong Kong

Since 1969 when it was launched in Germany Creme21 was an Icon and sign of the new prosperity of Germany. The Brand quickly became Germanys most succesfull creams and the color Orange was the Connection of Creme21 to the 70´ies mood and therefore a well chosen marketing startegie. But the times changed and 1986 Henkel AG of Germany stops production and distribution of Creme 21 to concentrate on other strong brands of th ecorporation such as Fa. But in 2003 Antje Stickel buys the internationaly rights to the Brand from Henkel and starts a very succesfull...

“017”

2005

80 x 120 cm, oil

private collection, USA

A large Chinese character, Double Happiness, on a red piece of paper or in paper cut is always put where it must strike the eyes on a young couple’s wedding. It has a story behind it.

In the ancient Tang Dynasty, there was a student who was on the way to the capital to attend the national final examination, in which the top learners would be selected as the ministers in the court. Unfortunately, he fell ill halfway when he passed through a mountain village. Thanks to a herbalist doctor and his daughter, he was taken to their house and treated well. He recovered quickly due to the father and the daughter’s good care. Well, when he had to leave, he found it hard to say good-bye to the pretty girl, and so did she. They fell in love. So the girl wrote down the right hand part of an antithetical couplet for the student to match: “Green trees against the sky in the spring rain while the sky set off the spring trees in the obscuration.”

“Well, I can make it though it is not easy. But you’ll have to wait till I have finished the examination.” replied the student. The young girl nodded in significance.

In the examination the young man won the first place, who was appreciated by the emperor. Also the winners were interviewed and tested by the emperor. As luck would have it, he was asked by the emperor to finish a couplet, which would need a right part as the answer. The emperor wrote:

“Red flowers dot the land in the breeze’s chase while the land colored up in red after the kiss.”

The young man realized immediately the right part of the couplet by the girl was the perfect fit to the emperor’s couplet, so he took the girl’s part as the answer without hesitation. The emperor was delighted to see the matching half of his couplet was so talent and harmonious that he authorized the young man’s identity as Minister in the court and allowed him to pay a visit to his hometown first before holding the post. The young man met the girl happily at home and told her the emperor’s couplet. They soon got married. For the wedding, the couple DOUBLED the Chinese character, HAPPY, together, on a red piece of paper and put it on the wall to express the happiness for the two events. And from then on, it has been taken on and became a social custom-...

“018”

2006

165 x 120 cm, oil

Gallery M-Ars, Vienna

While angels and demons alike are generally regarded as invisible to human sight, they are frequently depicted as human-like creatures with wings, though many theologians have argued that they have no physical existence, but can take on human form. The angels’ wings are heavily implied by the Scriptures. Seraphim are depicted in art and scripture as having six wings (Isaiah 6:1-3), and Cherubim four. Theologians agreed that angels have no gender (see more extended discussion below). Whilst artists avoided making the Virgin and saints too attractive, so that inappropriate thoughts would not be aroused in the beholder, no such constraint applied to angels, who have no se. Their exceptional beauty was well attested in Scripture. The long plain dress or tunic traditionally given to most angels comes hardly altered from the Byzantine tradition, where it had, if anything, a male connotation. In the Renaissance these were often brightly coloured, but before and after were mostly plain white.

Byzantine angels were also often shown in military outfits, and, transmitted by icons from Crete in particular, this tradition was transferred to Western art, especially for Gabriel and Michael, who wear versions of Byzantine officer’s armour and clothing into the Baroque period and later. The same archangels, when in attendance on Christ or the Virgin, wear the loros, a jewelled strip of cloth hanging vertically down the front of the body. This was worn only by the Imperial family and their bodyguard; the archangels were seen as God’s bodyguard. They also often carry long white wands of office. Hence, when a high ranking Byzantine in a visionary dream in 586 saw two men he took to be bodyguards of the Emperor, they subsequently turned out to be angels.[11] For other scenes, the same angels must appear incognito to accord with, for example, their appearance to Abraham. However artists are very reluctant to depict them in normal clothes, or without wings. Angels are often shown making music in heaven, sometimes in bands of a fair size, or in depictions of the Book of Revelations, blowing trumpets in accordance with the text. In the 15th century West in particular, angels are sometimes shown wearing versions of contemporary clerical vestments. There was a theological comparison developed between the role of Gabriel in the Annunciation and that of the priest saying Mass In the Renaissance, the classical putto, usually naked, was first revived in secular and mythological subjects, but they soon appeared, often in great quantity, as angels, becoming almost the norm in compositions with a number of angels merely in attendance.

“019”

2005

150 x 110 cm, oil

private collection, Vienna

In Japanese cuisine, ikizukuri is the preparation of sashimi from a living animal.

Ikizukuri usually begins with the customer selecting, from a tank in the restaurant, the animal (shrimp, octopus, lobster) they wish to eat. The chef, almost always a sashimi chef who has undergone years of training and apprenticeship, takes the animal out of the tank and filets and guts it, but without killing the animal, which is served on a plate, sliced, with the heart still beating.

Ikizukuri of fish consists of thin, sheet-like slices or finger-sized pieces garnished with lemon wedges, a decoration of ginger, or nori (seaweed). Squid and small octopuses are usually wrapped around a chopstick and eaten whole.

Ikizukuri is a controversial method of food preparation, both in Japan and in other countries. However, aficionados claim that the flavour and quality — undoubtedly of the utmost freshness — justifies the controversial procedure. The practice is banned in Australia while German law prohibits shrimp ikizukuri but not fish ikizukuri....

“020”

2005

165 x 110 cm, oil

private collection, Vienna

Silicon is a non-metallic element with atomic number 14 and symbol Si. In the periodic table, it is in the same group as carbon and is carbon’s closest relative. Silicon is, next to oxygen, the most abundant element in the earth’s crust and is found in plants, animals and in most living organisms.

Foods, mainly cereal products and unrefined grains of high fiber content are major sources of available silicon for humans. Studys show that daily silicon intakes were markedly higher in men than in women, mainly because of higher beer consumption by men. Silicon intakes of both sexes decrease with increasing age. Neither silicon deficiency nor a silicon-responsive condition have yet been identified in humans, and dietary silicon excess has not been linked to any diseases. Although silicon deficiency states have been reported in chicks and rats, and silicon is an essential nutrient for some plants. Chicks fed silicon-deficient diets are found to have abnormalities in their skulls and long bones. Abnormalities include poorly formed joints, defective endochondral growth and defective articular cartilage. Bone and cartilage abnormalities have also been found in rats fed silicon-deficient diets. In these animals, silicon appears to be involved in collagen and glycosaminoglycan formation. Silicon may play such a role in other animals, including humans, but this has not yet.....

“021”

2005

165 x 110 cm, oil

private collection, Vienna

- Tying a non-lubricated condom around the muzzle of the rifle barrel in order to prevent barrel fouling by keeping out detritus.

- The OSS used condoms for various applications, from storing corrosive fuel additives and wire garrotes (with the T-handles removed) to holding the acid component of a self-destructing film canister, to finding use in improvised explosives.

- Navy SEALs have used doubled condoms, sealed with neoprene cement, to protect non-electric firing assemblies for underwater demolitions - leading to the term “Dual Waterproof Firing Assemblies.”

- Spies during the Cold War used condoms to protect ultra-miniature Minox cameras and film for covert storage and transport.

- Condoms have been used to waterproof boxes of matches and kindling, often by hikers and campers.

- The British SAS carry condoms as a method for carrying water in emergencies.

- Condoms have also been used in many cases to smuggle cocaine and other drugs across borders and into prisons by filling the condom with drugs, tying it in a knot and then either swallowing it or inserting it into the rectum.

- According to journalists at the BBC protecting a microphone to be used to make an underwater recording with condom is standard BBC practice when a waterproof microphone is needed but cannot be procured.

- Condoms are used with wireless microphone belt packs to prevent sweat from entering the electronics.

- Condoms are used by engineers to keep soil samples dry during soil tests

- Foot travelers in Amazonic South America wear condoms when wading through water to prevent a small catfish known as candirú from swimming into the urethra. The fish is attracted to the scent of blood and urine.

- In special effects, condoms are often used as containers for fake blood on actors, bursting open upon detonation with a squib to simulate gunshot wounds.

- Condoms are used to cover endovaginal ultrasound probes for sanitary reasons during medical ultrasound examinations.

- Condoms are used as a one way valve by paramedics when performing a chest decompression in the field. The decompression needle is inserted through the condom, and inserted into the chest. The condom folds over the hub allowing air to exit the chest, but preventing it from entering.

- Condoms are used by geological engineers when using displacement rods/probes to measure soil resistance by the cone penetration test method. The condom is unrolled over the pointed metal probe head to protect delicate sensors near the tip during the initial penetration.