“Come on, I’ll show you something,” said Heinz Walentowski and opened a door that said “No entry”. It led to a room full of works of art. Some of them were leaning against a wall-high shelf, some of them lay flat in a mighty light gray drawer cabinet. Valentinovsky opened a drawer. It contained ten or twelve colourful, unframed works. All by Udo Lindenberg, the singer who is also an artist; Walentowski is his gallery owner. “Here,” Walentowski said, picking up a picture. “Costs 2000 euros.” He smiled, his eyes hidden behind large sunglasses. In the next room, he pulled from a shelf artwork by Otto Waalkes, the comedian who, like Lindenberg, is successfully pursuing a second career as an artist. Walentowski is also Otto’s gallery owner.
The speeches were held one floor up at the same time. A sunny Saturday afternoon, and Walentowski had invited to a vernissage in his gallery in Werl. He lives just around the corner, in Ense. Works by Frank Zander were on display. Very colourful. A lot of comic-like fish. Along with Otto and Udo, Frank Zander is the third famous senior entertainer in Walentowski’s portfolio. Zander celebrated his 80th birthday this year, Udo Lindenberg is 76, Otto is 74 and Walentowski, at 73, is the youngest of the bunch. Four men, 303 years of experience and there is no end in sight.
Werl, located in the district of Soest, is a place of pilgrimage. The people here not only make pilgrimages to the Madonna, which came to the city in 1661 because the Elector of Cologne and the Mayor of Werl wanted it that way. They also make a pilgrimage to Walentowski. 300 guests came to the vernissage at 4 p.m. In other words, the hut was full.
Pils was tapped at a counter, as it should be in the heart of Westphalia. In front of the stage, a three-story cake towered up on a table, actually the cake for Frank Zander’s 80th birthday, who unfortunately had to cancel at short notice. Corona. He promised via video that he would be fit again soon. Nevertheless, the cake was cut and eaten with great appetite.
To be honest, I didn’t know where to look. There was so much to see. On the one hand, the unbelievably large number of incredibly colorful pictures by Frank Zander, Otto and Udo Lindenberg. Close together. Petersburg hanging is an understatement. Pop singer Alexandra Hofmann also presented her art for the first time in an adjoining room.
And then, of course, Otto – Otto himself. Zander couldn’t come, that’s what he was there for. In the midst of the crowd, he seemingly relaxed a selfie marathon. Everyone wanted to take a picture with him. He activated his typical facial expression (eyes and mouth wide open) as if by pressing a button.
I asked him how he liked Zander’s pictures. He: “Pretty colorful. Fishy!” Note: what Ottifant is to Otto, fish is to Zander (somehow logical, if your name is Zander). “You had a vernissage here yourself a few weeks ago,” I continued. “Now you are here again. Is Werl your new home?” Otto, grinning: “Yes, I live here!”
But seriously: He just came from Cologne, he said. Filming for his new fairy tale show “The Truth About Hansel and Gretel”. To be seen soon on a large private television station in Cologne. We stood in the midst of the crowd, people ate and drank, and the cake shrank visibly. Me: “Have you tried them yet?” Otto held his stomach, and for a moment it wasn’t the comedian who seemed to be speaking, but Otto Waalkes, the man: “I’m working on it.”
I then continued to talk to Heinz Walentowski, a one-man show with black and brown plaid trousers, colorful shoes and lots of jewellery. His fat necklace? “Gift from Peter Maffay,” he said.
The Rings? “All from Udo.” He told how he started an apprenticeship as a baker in 1963, at the age of 14, and became self-employed at the age of 17. And today: 17 gallery branches. 70 employees. And the family is working hard.
“Werl seems like a good art dealership, doesn’t it?” I asked. He: “Within an hour we can reach 18 million people.” In other words: It couldn’t be any better for a place of pilgrimage. The fact that the words pilgrimage and Walentowski begin with the same three letters is probably a coincidence.
