Along the Way

Artworks from 2010 to 2020

"When you're on the road so much, there's not enough time between tours to prepare large canvases and start oil paintings. You take what's on the table - paper, cardboard, an empty cigar box, pens, felt-tip pens and brushes, ink in a jar or a Chinese rubbing stone.
You take what's there - and that's what we musicians call improvisation. That's what the works in this book [and my life] are about: IMPROVISATION."
- Peter Brötzmann

"The art that Brötzmann creates has always been there - even before time began. Even before he became 'Machine Gun'. For the public, this art was initially part of his graphic designs: sculptures, collages, and later watercolors, served as the starting point or ball bearings for this incredible series of fantastic record covers, posters, flyers, etc. spanning over 50 years.
Brötzmann's art - his visual art - is an art that he can make anytime, anywhere. It's about finding something lost - and when he finds it, he simply reassembles it until it becomes his art. Quite simply. Or maybe that's just what he wants us to believe.

What is clear to see, however, is that he can take three wax crayons and a piece of discarded paper - the kind that surrounds us all the time - and in a few seconds draw a vibrant representation of something often associated with 'home' (a cup, a house, a tray) or 'on the road' (a ship, a landscape).
And it is precisely these small but elementary interventions that allow us to see things that we otherwise overlook - the potential of the world that we all too often throw away as we simply carry on, pass by, walk on."
- Markus Müller

With text contributions by Peter Brötzmann, Thomas Millroth, John Corbett, Markus Müller, Sotiris Kontos, Stephen O'Malley, Heather Leigh, Karl Lippegaus
Design: wppt:kommunikation, Klaus Untiet and Peter Brötzmann
In cooperation with Corbett vs Dempsey (USA) and Trost Records (Austria)

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