Hans-Jörg Georgi
Hans-Jörg Georgi joined the Atelier Goldstein studio in 2001, with thousands of drawings, representing planes and children. It was at the studio that he started to create three-dimensional planes, which he made out of shoebox cut outs assembled with glue. A real fleet is then formed, like a Noah’s ark, gathering airplanes of different models: dented, textured, they take according to the arrangements distinctive anthropomorphic aspects. Human, animal and technological kingdoms are mixed together. “I want to do something good for the world. I’m taking you all with me on a journey,” says Georgi.
Born in Frankfurt in 1949, Hans-Jörg Georgi grew up in one shelter after another. A badly treated poliomyelitis drastically deprived him of the use of his legs. Before joining the Atelier Goldstein (Frankfurt am Main, Germany) in 2001, his works were not preserved, destroyed as he created them. It was Christiane Cuticchio, founder of the Atelier Goldstein, who gave Georgi, at 50 years old, the opportunity to develop his work - from then on preserved, archived and exhibited -, integrating at the same time the society in its own right as an artist. Modest, he laughs when the word is used to describe him.
Inspired by well-known models of planes and helicopters (Boeing, Hawk, etc.), Georgi also distinguishes himself by inventing and manufacturing futuristic aircraft that he calls the “six-story”. Running on solar energy rather than gasoline, they are part of his project of osmosis between man and machine. Taking part in a utopian world, these “six floors” are inhabited by characters imagined and drawn by the artist, and are equipped with dormitories, a hospital, a bowling alley and a discotheque. They are intended to ensure the space travel of humanity in search of its survival far from the Earth. This modern Noah’s Ark was exhibited for the first time in France in 2014, at the Maison Rouge.

Text: François Salmeron
Foreword: Christian Berst
Catalog published to mark the exhibition hans-jörg georgi : noah’s planes, from December 8, 2022 to January 22, 2023.