on July 28, 1998 - the 108th anniversary of Van Gogh's death
on the occasion of my exhibition

Chris Bleicher - Brother Van Gogh
in the Forum der Technik (= Forum of Technology), Deutsches Museum, Munich

...To rouse, to draw attention to the plight of innumerable collegues I choose as an example Vincent Van Gogh. I don't want to add to the numerous presumptuous "Hommages to Van Gogh" with which other unknown artists show off. Rather than reformulating his work in my own interpretation, I want to address brother Van Gogh with solidarity: As a painter he was a superiour example however as a human being he was dependant from material things. This dependency was shameful then and still is today for an artists. As a painter, Van Gogh is an unequalled example, but his human example with his lifelong embarrassing financial dependency should show the persons, responsible for private and public funding that it is profitable to support and protect the contemporary artist.

My special thank-you goes to Dr. Matthias Arnold, art critic, Munich, who was my advisor on the concept of this exhibition. He is one of the world-wide important Van Gogh researchers who for many years published articles and specialiazed books on the Dutch painter. Dr. Arnold wrote the conclusion of the catalogue...