“W/O”, 1991, ink on paper, digitally processed for restoration

The original painting is from 1991, I was 12 years old. With the fall of the German Wall, things turned out to be very, very different in my world. The search for individuality was so dominant in the 1990ies, that I almost freaked out. I just grabbed all GDR ink which was left in the drawer and painted fear, insecurity and loss. With U2′s Creative Invite – “Collaborate on a collage inspired by U2′s Achtung Baby to win an original Achtung Baby styled Trabant car” – I worked again on this painting. It was partly damaged by water in the cellar. Just learning desktop publishing I spend several days with photography, digital restoration of the damaged parts (and swearing at my computer for slowly processing). I did it and won as The Host’s Choice. This is how imagonaut was born, my personal  Achtung Baby. U2′s official designer, Shaughn McGrath and photographer, Anton Corbijn selected 15 submissions which were created into a collage and featured on U2.com. My artwork got global exposure in online and print press and was promoted across U2′s social media channels and U2.com, alongside a feature about me. This talenthouse project reached 9,587,885 people. Active participants averaged:+68 New Supporters, +140 Shares & Comments, +10,124 Social Reach. Very impressive figures showing how social media can boost your product! Besides of the awesome crazy Trabant car, I call it Izzy, and a wondeful discography collection of U2′s Achtung baby anniversary edition, I won confidence about my creative approach to things. I had never shown my artwork to other people before this event. I thank U2, Shaughn McGrath,  Anton Corbijn, Universal Music and Talenthouse for this inspiring experience! Please feel free to contact me for a digital reprint of “w/o”, if you like. The original painting is not for sale. Jana Beier’s interview on talenthouse. Here you find all current creative invites on Talenthouse.