Advertisement

Row at German art fair over 'Erdogan with banana' painting

AFP
AFP - [email protected]
Row at German art fair over 'Erdogan with banana' painting
Photo: DPA

A German artist complained Friday after his gallery took down a painting that depicts Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with a banana in his buttocks.

Advertisement

The provocative painting entitled "Turkish dictator" by Thomas Baumgärtel has sparked noisy complaints and protests at the art Karlsruhe fair.

The fair organisers tweeted that, amid the row, not they but the gallery owner had "decided to take down the caricature".

Gallerist Michael Oess said he took the decision "to avoid trouble."

"I have a certain responsibility toward other visitors," he told national news agency DPA.

The artist wrote on Twitter that he had severed ties with his gallery after it had taken the decision "without consulting me".

Baumgärtel is a street art pioneer also known as the Banana Sprayer whose trademark motif is an Andy Warhol-style banana.

The uproar started when a Turkish journalist Thursday filmed the picture with a smartphone while reporting online, said Oess.

The Turkish newspaper Daily Sabah reported on the painting, saying that to Turks it presented a "racist and vulgar attack" on their president.

Oess said the painting, part of the "Despots series -- Trump, Kim and Erdogan", had sold for 5,900 euros.

Germany is home to a three-million-strong ethnic Turkish community.

Erdogan has in the past sued TV comic Jan Böhmermann over a satirical poem, sparking a diplomatic row.

READ ALSO: Hamburg court bans large parts of poem insulting Erdogan

More

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

See Also