Merlin Flu

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Merlin Flu

Merlin Flu (bourgeois Hartmut Günter Schirrmacher ; born December 12, 1948 in Binzen ; † February 10, 2015 in Schleiden ) was a German artist ( painting , graphics , object art and poetry ).

life and work

Youth and Studies

Merlin Flu was the illegitimate son of a Baden unskilled worker and a cook ( war widow from East Prussia). Until the age of four he grew up with his mother in Lörrach, who fell seriously ill and died when he was nine years old. He spent the following years until August 1968 in children's and youth homes in Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate .

At the age of 13 he created his first abstract paintings (“The oil idol with a thousand eyes”); wherever color and paper were available, he painted. At the age of 16 he wrote his first poems ("Orphan's Heart").

From 1968 to 1972 he toured student living communities and artist studios in Freiburg , Heidelberg , Düsseldorf and Münster ; his works found their first buyers.

At the end of 1972, at the suggestion of the philosopher Ursula Franke ( Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität ), he took part in the artistic examination for special talent at the Münster University of Applied Sciences and was admitted there. After two semesters of graphic and design at Dreher, he dropped out again.

freelance artist

Following his own intuition and spirituality, Merlin Flu has worked in studios in Cologne and Düsseldorf since the late 1970s and has taken part in numerous solo and group exhibitions. The milieu of Düsseldorf's old town and Königsallee in the early 1980s were important inspirations for his works of these years.

Figurative-abstract portraits, female nudes and mythical creatures, even visions of the end of time, flow from one form to the other in watercolors, graphics, acrylic paintings and sculptures.

In 1990 he took the stage name "Merlin" - since 1993 expanded to "Merlin Flu".

Special work

  • Soldering iron burn on paper
  • Coffee fire painting
  • Jewelry system "Magic Collier"

Sickness and death

In 1990, Merlin Flu fell ill with multiple sclerosis , which over the following years weakened his eyesight and the right painting hand and tied him to a wheelchair. From 1996 he needed assistance in completing his paintings and sculptures, which were now created according to his sketches and color specifications.

In 2004 he moved with his studio from Düsseldorf to the North Eifel and created an extensive late work of large-format acrylic paintings and sculptures .

Merlin Flu was married to Christine Schirrmacher and died on February 10, 2015 in his Schleiden studio.

Exhibitions (selection)

  • 1978 Atelier pol kauka, Cologne
  • 1980 Komma Kucken Galerie, Düsseldorf
  • 1985–87 Annual exhibition of Düsseldorf artists - Art Museum Ehrenhof, Düsseldorf
  • 1989 Begasse Gallery, Düsseldorf
  • 1992 autumn exhibition of artwork Munich, Int. Art Triennial Majdanek Museum, Lublin / Poland
  • 1994 Ministry of Finance NRW, Düsseldorf
  • 1996 The color blue , Landtag Kiel, ideal images Landesmuseum Volk + Wirtschaft, Düsseldorf
  • 1997 Salon de l'Aquarelle , Namur / Belgium
  • 1999 Retrospective Art Association Fulda, Traces Art Association Dresden
  • 2001 Dusseldorf Radschläger sculptures
  • 2004 Intern. Exhibition Städtische Galerie, Nideggen, Galerie Wittenstein, Wuppertal
  • 2009–2011 annual exhibition of the European Association of Visual Artists, Prüm
  • 2010 Klang & Stille Stadtmuseum Euskirchen, Das goldene Segel Kunstverein Bad Zwischenahn
  • 2011 art figura , 4th Art Prize Museum Schwarzenberg
  • 2012 Ross & Reiter , Gallery of Art, Mechernich
  • 2013 Reins versus modern artists Kunstverein Wörth, Montecon Art Prize Spain
  • 2014 Dreigroschenoper Landestheater Dinkelsbühl

Publications

Publications (selection)

  • 1985, 86, 87 Annual exhibition of Düsseldorf artists, complete catalogs
  • 1986 Düsseldorf Art Museum Ehrenhof, catalog
  • 1989 Survival with Kunst Ehrenhof Düsseldorf, catalog
  • 1996 artist window 11/96, magazine
  • 1997,99,2000,01 Unesco Gala , Düsseldorf catalogs
  • 2000 Sotheby's Fortuna Achenbach Art Consulting, catalog
  • 2001 Radschläger Art Catalog ISBN 3-9808081-0-6
  • 2009, 10, 11 EVBK Prüm No. 52, 53, 54 catalogs ISSN  0173-8224
  • 2010 Das goldene Segel Kunstverein Bad Zwischenahn, catalog
  • 2011 art figura Museum Schwarzenberg, catalog

literature

  • Art is my purpose in life D-Journal, Magazin 8/80, 1/88, 11/85,
  • Passionate artists TOP-Magazin Düsseldorf, 4/94
  • Survival through art - art metropolis Düsseldorf , Express June 24, 1998
  • Dreaming fool indulging in love Westdeutsche Zeitung, March 10, 2000
  • Birds of Paradise in Indian ink Rheinische Post April 27, 2000
  • A barefoot magician Kölner Stadtanzeiger 27./28. August 2005
  • Coffee brand Barista - Magazine 1/2008
  • Radio interviews - Antenne Düsseldorf March 13, 1994, March 31, 1995
  • WDR current hour auction for Perm December 10, 1995
  • RTL West studio visit March 24, 2006

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Flu, Merlin
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schirrmacher, Hartmut (real name); Schirrmacher, Hartmut Günter (full real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German artist
DATE OF BIRTH December 12, 1948
PLACE OF BIRTH Binzen
DATE OF DEATH February 10, 2015
Place of death Schleiden