Michel Wurthle: Paris Bar Press: Confidential

The Paris Bar on Kantstrasse in Berlin’s Charlottenburg is one of Germany’s most famous meeting places for artists. Bustling every night of the week with fascinating guests from every walk of life, the restaurant is particularly beloved by painters, actors, writers, collectors and gallerists, its walls covered by a melange of artworks by John Baldessari, Maria Lassnig, Georg Baselitz, Sarah Lucas and Martin Kippenberger-to name just a few.

Now artist and owner of the Paris Bar Michel Wurthle has created the first behind-the-scenes look into this legendary institution, in the form of an intimate, sprawling visual journal-six volumes of hundreds of his drawings, photographs, collages, menus and hand-written texts in English, German and French.

Created in the solitude of the 2020/21 lockdown, Paris Bar Press. Confidential is at once a subjective history of the Paris Bar brimming with memories, a love letter to Berlin, and not least Wurthle’s affirmation to his staff that we’re all in this together, we will get through this, the world isn’t going to end so quickly after all.

An up and down of hopes, disappointments and happy moments, a frantic work marathon, until all of a sudden six thick volumes bound in red threatened to burst like ripe fruits filled with the juice of so much glue. - Michel Wurthle