“Bowie” by Reinhard Kleist

The renowned Berlin-based illustrator Reinhard Kleist has already published internationally acclaimed graphic novels about Johnny Cash and Nick Cave. In recent years, he has focussed extensively on David Bowie. The first volume of his illustrated Bowie biography was called ‘Starman’ (2021) and was dedicated to Bowie's beginnings and above all the Ziggy Stardust era. In the second part, ‘Low’, which will be published in November 2024, Kleist focuses on the time in West Berlin when the English superstar was stranded in the Wall city. Kleist has designed an exclusive screen print for ‘Low’ for tipBerlin, about which he says: ‘It was important to me to choose a motif that had to do with Bowie and his time in Berlin. Breitscheidplatz was an obvious choice, and I really wanted the red jacket to be visible.’ The jacket also plays an important role in the legendary film ‘Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo’. For the screen print, Kleist experimented with the colours - the sky is green, Bowie is blue. ‘I think this choice of colour captures the mood of a rainy day and the atmosphere of the 1970s,’ says Kleist.