Rubies and Lemons

                                                                 Helmut Middendorf, The Singer Standing , 1981 I’d like to congratulate you on the recent publication of Helmut Middendorf: Berlin - The 80s & Early Works (Kerber Verlag). It is good that this important period of your work has now been collected together in one book. I first became aware of your work in 1983, when I saw the catalogue of the landmark exhibition Zeitgeist , which showcased the new breed of painters. It was an exciting and very inspiring group of artists, who ushered in a resurgence of figurative painting. Could you speak about your early days as a young artist – before you were catapulted onto the international scene - have you always painted? I decided to become an artist when I was twelve years old. When I did my application for the School of arts in Berlin (Hochschule der Künste, Berlin) in 1972, I put together a group of small drawings and collages and paintings on paper. The collages were influen

      In 1972 Stanley Kubrick released his film A Clockwork Orange , based upon the dystopian novel by Anthony Burgess, which is set in the near future (as it was then). Kubrick commissioned a brilliant young composer, Walter Carlos, for the soundtrack, which had to reflect the leading character’s love of Beethoven while also illustrating his alienation from society. Kubrick had been impressed by Carlos’ immensely popular album ‘Switched-On Bach’ (1969), on which the composer utilised a recent invention – a Moog synthesiser - to ‘re-stage’ Bach’s more familiar music, giving it a fascinating, unearthly, mechanical feel. The album sold more than any other classical record in history and earned the composer three Grammy Awards – for several months the album even eclipsed The Beatles’ sales.   Carlos agreed to Kubrick’s project and the result is one of the most unnerving melding of futuristic sound and vision in movie history: a ravishing, apocalyptic soundscape that is both gorgeous and