Sketchbook 1992 Amsterdam, Rembrandtplein, Falcone Heiner Buhr

Ballpoint sketch of Giovanni Falcone holding a Uzi, with Venice, Pisa, Naples written around him — Amsterdam 1992, Heiner Buhr

I found an old sketchbook.

On the first page, in my own handwriting:

Hans Heiner Buhr. 16 April 1992.

I had completely forgotten it existed.

Amsterdam, Spring 1992

I was 26 years old, studying at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam. I had come from Berlin by rideshare — the sticker is still inside, Alexanderplatz, £55. The Wall had fallen two and a half years earlier. I was from East Berlin, had studied Russian and art education in Dresden, had painted in an army barracks while seven comrades watched. And now I was in Amsterdam.

In 1992 there were no mobile phones. Sketchbooks were my normal way of capturing ideas, thoughts, observations — as a drawing or a note, quickly, directly, without filter. Those who know me today as a crypto artist and NFT collector may not see that behind me there is a completely different, fully analogue history. This notebook is part of it.

The world was in motion. In May 1992, Giovanni Falcone was murdered — the Sicilian anti-mafia judge, blown up on the motorway near Palermo. It hit me deeply. In 1992 I was in Italy for the first time — on a Rietveld Academie excursion to the north: Verona, Padua, Mantua, Venice. Falcone died in the south, in the same year. Only three years ago did I visit Sicily for the first time. The monument to Falcone in Palermo made a deep impression on me. Some circles close slowly.

I drew everything immediately. That was how I understood the world.

Ballpoint sketch of two figures in bed, inscribed "Falcones letzte Nacht", Amsterdam 1992 — Ballpoint sketch titled “Falcone’s last night” — Amsterdam 1992, Heiner Buhr

Abstract ballpoint sketch titled "falcone", dark expressive lines, Amsterdam 1992 — Abstract ballpoint sketch titled Falcone — Amsterdam 1992, Heiner Buhr

Ballpoint sketch of a weeping woman figure, Amsterdam 1992 — Ballpoint sketch of a headless female figure with Kalashnikov — Weeping for Giovanni Falcone, Amsterdam 1992, Heiner Buhrm 1992, Heiner Buhr

Ballpoint sketch of a headless female figure with AK-47, weeping gesture, Amsterdam 1992 — Weeping for Giovanni Falcone — Amsterdam 1992. Ballpoint pen on paper.

Mixed ballpoint sketch of a sleeping female nude with male figure and airplane above, Amsterdam 1992 — Mixed ballpoint sketch of a sleeping female figure and aeroplane — “She dreams about Falcone”, Amsterdam 1992, Heiner Buhr

Rembrandtplein, at night

Sometime that spring — I no longer remember exactly when — I was walking home across the Rembrandtplein at night. A girl, blonde, was sitting alone in the curve of the room, seen from behind. I asked her: “Have you seen the film Basic Instinct?” She looked at me with hostility and said she didn’t want to speak with me. Two pimps watched me.

After a while a woman joined us — Swedish, she said, it later turned out she was Guatemalan. Conversation, mostly with Maurice. I ordered another beer and for her a huiswijn — house wine. Later Maurice told me the girl was still sitting alone and I should go over again. I said no. He went anyway. The bigger pimp pulled me away, I waved him off. The smaller one — more dangerous, not quite right in the head — stared darkly. I felt an unpleasant tingling in my back.

I wrote this down the same night. Illegibly, in this notebook. Then forgot it. For 33 years.

Handwritten notes in German about a night on the Rembrandtplein, Amsterdam 1992, page 1 — Handwritten notes from the Rembrandtplein, Amsterdam 1992 — page 1, Heiner Buhrns Heiner Buhr.

Handwritten notes in German about a night on the Rembrandtplein, Amsterdam 1992, page 2 — Handwritten notes from the Rembrandtplein, Amsterdam 1992 — page 2, Heiner Buhr

Handwritten notes in German about a night on the Rembrandtplein, Amsterdam 1992, page 3 — Handwritten notes from the Rembrandtplein, Amsterdam 1992 — page 3, Heiner Buhr

The sketchbook also contains several drawings of Petra — a Dutch woman, one year above me in the Fashion Department at the Rietveld. She was loosely part of the Seymour Likely Lounge crowd. I no longer remember her last name. After Amsterdam I never heard from her again.

Ballpoint sketch portrait of Petra V., Amsterdam 1992 — Ballpoint sketch portrait of “Petra V, Fashion Department”, Gerrit Rietveld Academie — Amsterdam 1992, Heiner Buhr

Ballpoint sketch of a dancing female figure with colour notes, Amsterdam 1992 — Ballpoint sketch of Petra V. dancing in a grey silk dress — Amsterdam 1992, Heiner Buhr

What else the book contains

The Volksbühne in Berlin — with an aeroplane flying over it. The East German symbol on the gable, the water in front. I had just left Berlin, but Berlin was still inside me. A T-shirt design: “Tekkno-Gen. Berlin Amsterdam N.Y. Wolf Apfelbaum. The Bobby-Peru-Party.” — In 1992 techno was still young, Amsterdam one of its centres. We felt it.

Ballpoint sketch of the Volksbühne Berlin with airplane flying over, DDR symbol on the gable, Amsterdam 1992 — Ballpoint sketch of the Volksbühne Berlin with aeroplane and East German symbol — Amsterdam 1992, Heiner Buhr

Expressive ballpoint sketch of a male nude with the Berlin Fernsehturm in the background, Amsterdam 1992 — Expressive ballpoint sketch of “self in Berlin with Fernsehturm” — Amsterdam 1992, Heiner Buhr

Ballpoint sketch of a nude figure with airplane, inscribed "Dem deutschen Volke", Amsterdam 1992 — Ballpoint sketch titled “Dem deutschen Volke” — nude figure with aeroplane, Amsterdam 1992, Heiner Buhr

And a theoretical note, across a double page: “Standpoint ↔ Form / Content. The freedom of the painter and the freedom of society to accept him. The risk of the painter and the risk of society to accept the painter — or not.” — I was 26 and already formulating my own philosophy of art. The same question still preoccupies me today.

Ballpoint self-portrait of Hans Heiner Buhr with Old Spice bottle, inscribed "kleines Selbstbildnis", Amsterdam 1992 — Small ballpoint “self-portrait with Old Spice bottle” — Amsterdam 1992, Heiner Buhr

Why I’m showing this

I have lived in Tbilisi, Georgia since 1996. I am a painter, crypto artist, tour operator. I was there when the Wall fell, when Falcone died, when techno was born, when NFTs began. I was often in the right place at the right time — without knowing it.

This notebook is a document of that time. From a 26-year-old East Berliner who was just discovering the world, with a ballpoint pen and bad handwriting.

Heiner Buhr — Painter & Crypto Artist, Tbilisi

🌐 Auch verfügbar auf: Deutsch

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