Thomas Spitzer

The Karikaturmuseum Krems presents a comprehensive insight into the graphic work of Thomas Spitzer, musician and mastermind of the Erste Allgemeine Verunsicherung (EAV).

Behind the scenes, it is the studied graphic artist Thomas Spitzer, the last remaining founding member of the Verunsicherung, who repeatedly adds his signature to the works of the EAV. Since 1977, this has been done not only in the artwork of every album, enriched with comics and caricatures, and the stage sets he has designed, but especially in the lyrics, which, with a few exceptions, can be attributed to him.

With incomparable wordplay, a very unique vocabulary (and world view) and a delight in new word creations, he shakes, rhymes and exaggerates without ever setting himself thematic limits. From the socially critical works, the cabaret interludes, the nonsense numbers and the odes about anti-hero Franz to serious, thoughtful (love) ballads, almost everything has been released with the EAV. But he also wrote and composed lyrics for Udo Jürgens, Gert Steinbäcker, Carl Peyer, Boris Bukowski and others.

The self-confessed Zappa fan is also the EAV's most important composer and is responsible for many of the songs' countless memorable melodies. From the first ideas on the dictation machine and the first singing to the final production and the live arrangement of the tracks, he is usually involved in every step of the process. He can be seen live primarily as an electric guitarist, singer and performer.

The father of one daughter has lived in Kenya with his ravens and cats for over 25 years and runs the Musungu Music Studio there. He has also built a studio and workshop in the palm tree domicile so that he can devote his remaining free time to painting and carpentry.

The Karikaturmuseum Krems shows a little-known but all the more exciting side: Thomas Spitzer as a draughtsman, painter and multimedia artist. His oeuvre ranges from satirical drawings, cartoons, rockomix and animated films to landscape drawings, paintings and large-format comics - created in his adopted country of Kenya.

Curators: Gottfried Gusenbauer, Nora Tietz