Michel Würthle: le cinéma de la vie

Hollywood Big Shots

In 1972, Michel Würthle opened the EXIL restaurant in Kreuzberg together with his friends Ingrid and Oswald Wiener. I don't know why EXIL quickly became the most important restaurant on the Berlin scene - perhaps simply because many an exiled artist was given a special welcome here. German and foreign artists, actors and directors met there on the Landwehr Canal without being asked about their origins or papers; it was there that the transformation from a local, almost provincial scene to an international one took place. EXIL thus became one of the most interesting and lively places in the city, enabling Berlin to regain its reputation as a cosmopolitan city for night owls that was open to all.
The circle of artists who socialised there included Joseph Beuys, Dieter Roth, Günter Brus, Walter Pichler, Richard Hamilton, Eduardo Paolozzi, Georg Baselitz, Markus Lüpertz, Maria Lassnig and Martin Kippenberger, to name but a few of the hundreds of drawings that Würthle created over 25 years. He cultivated a kind of professional relationship with them - most of them were friends - because he obviously couldn't afford to just eat and drink with them all the time. Würthle ran the business and made sure that everything ran smoothly, combining business with that special ambience that they were looking for. We mustn't forget that the catering trade is one of the most strenuous, truly gruelling professions. This did not stop Würthle from observing his guests and being infected by the magic of this unusual clientele, who - paradoxically - found their promised land in EXIL.
Business flourishes. In 1979, Würthle sold the EXIL to take over the more centrally located PARIS BAR together with Reinald Nohal, which quickly became the mythical place it still is today. Michel Würthle's personality acts like a magnet. The best artists continue to swap drinks and meals for works that quickly cover the walls from floor to ceiling. You go there to see this new Alibaba cave, to admire this café that combines the principle of the Colombe d'Or in Saint-Paul de Vence or the Kronenhalle in Zurich with the mockery and self-irony of the punk movement that is sweeping the planet. The punk flair will never completely evaporate from the PARIS BAR - a persistence that is puzzling, but can probably be found in Michel Würthle's personality. He is not only a professional landlord with skin and hair, he is also - behind the mask of modesty, the genuinely embarrassed smile - an artist.

Exhibition:
CFA Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin, 8 - 22/9/2018