MICHAEL NEFF
My First Time by Michael Neff
»Martin Kippenberger's 2 Spiegel (1987) was the original crack that got me
addicted to art, to understanding, to enlightenment, to eccentricity – basically to anything larger than my teenage bedroom at the time.«
»Martin Kippenberger's 2 Spiegel (1987)
was the original crack that got me addicted
to art, to understanding, to enlightenment,
to eccentricity – basically to anything larger than my teenage bedroom at the time.«
It has remained so to this day. My teenage den has grown only marginally larger, but my love and appreciation for Kippenberger's work has remained at a consistent high. I bought the two-part work at the tender age of nineteen—and in the midst of the terrible struggle of finishing my high school exams—on one of my first visits to Art Basel.
© Illustration Florentin Aisslinger
At the time, the price was 2000 German marks. I didn't think it was that expensive, but I had to work hard for it in my father's factory—and in my eyes, it was totally worth it. It was also the first work of art to which my parents' response was to flip me the bird. Everyone in the family liked the Beuys multiples that I had acquired over and over again before that: in their eyes, Beuys was reputable. But it wasn't exactly to my advantage to start a culture war at that age.
With the Kippenberger work, the barrier was transgressed—and the avant-garde could march into the Kurpfalz!
