Nigelnagelnaegeli

Exercise and fresh air: these have been my only really helpful hangover remedies for years. I usually head for the forest, but last Saturday Harald Naegeli came to mind once again. I've admired the "Sprayer of Zurich" since my university days, when I got to know his Undine on the façade of the Deutsches Seminar and researched what the curious-looking figure was all about.

Undine and I know each other from our student days. She is clearly visible from Rechberg Park on the back wall of the German Seminary:

Naegeli became known as Zurich's aforementioned sprayer at the end of the 1970s because he sprayed stick figures on the buildings and walls of Zurich that he found particularly ugly and/or bleak. The ETH car park alone received over 40 works. What is now considered particularly worthy of protection - during the renovation of the ETH car park, the graffiti was removed, restored and reinstalled - caused a great deal of controversy in the early days. Building owners and politicians regarded Naegeli's stick figures as graffiti, had them removed and began to hunt Naegeli down. The whole thing turned into a real cat-and-mouse game, as a result of which Naegeli fled to friends in Germany, which is why real "Naegelis" can also be found in Düsseldorf today.

Some shots of my Naegeli walk:

With Undine, I like her lightness: the nature spirit seems to float, smile and curiously observe the park visitors. What a difference a single stroke can make! In fact, Naegeli's figures are often sprayed in a single stroke, in a matter of seconds, with precision. Only rarely does Naegeli stop, which is really impressive.

On my walk, by the way, I orientate myself by a great digital map of the city, which shows all the "Naegelis" that can still be seen today, as well as those that have unfortunately been removed: sprayervonzrich.com

Thanks to this map, I also discover previously unknown works - Nigelnagelnaegelis, so to speak - which gives me mischievous pleasure every time. Sometimes I even catch myself giggling on my own, probably making a pretty crazy impression.

On a guided tour of the Musée Visionnaire, I was able to discover the ETH car park works before they were renovated. I learnt that although this drawing of a fish man looks impressive, it is no longer a real original:

This becomes clear the closer the viewer gets to the two figures standing next to each other:

Naegeli's originals are sprayed quickly and in a flowing movement, which is why the black colour in the original (1st and 3rd picture) is sprayed with different densities and still "runs" in places. The strokes in the fish man (2nd picture), on the other hand, are drawn very precisely, as if with a brush, and also end neatly at the edge. Boundaries that Naegeli often and gladly ignored. His figures like to go round corners, as can be seen in the 3rd picture. I can't remember who caught up here. All the more reason to go on a Naegeli city tour.

I could talk about Naegeli for hours. His graffiti are tongue-in-cheek protest actions that I like incredibly well. I therefore highly recommend that you find out more about Harald Naegeli. There will be several opportunities to do so over the next few days: