Charles Paul Wilp (15 September 1932, in Witten – 2 January 2005, in Düsseldorf) was a German advertising-designer, artist, photographer and short-movie-editor.

Study and career

After school at the humanistic Ruhr-high school and after studying at the Jesuit-father François Xavier in Vannes, Wilp went to the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris. He completed his wide-ranging education at the TH Aachen in synaesthesia, journalism, art and psychology. He was also student of Man Ray in New York.

Wilp developed a few of the most important advertisement campaigns of the 1960s and 1970s: Puschkin („Wodka für harte Männer“, 1963), Pirelli and Volkswagen (VW-Käfer-Slogan: „Und läuft ... und läuft ... und läuft“). He was also an image consultant for major politicians, like Willy Brandt.

Aerospace and art

In 1960, Yves Klein declared Wilp as Prince of Space. Wilp's interest in aerospace influenced also his most famous campaign in 1968 for the soft drink Afri-Cola, Slogan: „Super-sexy-mini-flower-pop-op-cola – alles ist in Afri-Cola“

Famous models of 1960s like Marianne Faithfull, Amanda Lear, Donna Summer, Marsha Hunt were photographed behind windows with ice-crystals.

Artist's friends

The art-book "Dazzledorf" (which presents in its subtitle the town of Düsseldorf as suburb of the world) with samples also of a few of his artists-friends like Ewald Mataré, Yves Klein, Andy Warhol, Mel Ramos, Otto Piene, Heinz Mack, Günther Uecker, Joseph Beuys gives a good impression of the art and style of this artist. Wilp also had contact with the artists Michael (Mike) Jansen, Helmut Tollmann and Joe Brockerhoff.

Exhibitions

• In 2008, the exhibition Zero G. The Artronaut Charles Wilp took place at the Braunschweig University of Fine Arts.^[1] It was curated by Marie-Luise Heuser, Annette Tietenberg, and Ingrid Schmidt-Winkeler.^[2] Accompanying the exhibition was the scientific and interdisciplinary conference Planetary Perspectives.^[3] The contributions were pubhished.^[4]
• In 2010, in the lecture series Culture and Spaceflight at the Haus der Wissenschaft Braunschweig, the Director of Solar System Research at ESA/ESAC in Madrid and manager of the Rosetta Mission, Gerhard Schwehm, spoke about The Importance of Art in Spaceflight - Charles Wilp.^[5]
• In his native town of Witten, a museum with his works was set up in 2012 under the name Charles Wilp Space in a disused pump house of the local waterworks. The exterior eye-catcher was a Futuro, like the one Wilp used in Düsseldorf. The museum was closed a few years later and the exhibits sold and lent to various international museums.

Collection

Some of his photos can be found today in Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin.

Literature

Wilp, Charles, Dazzledorf. Photography and texts by Charles Wilp. (texts German, English, Japanese, Arabian)o.J. Wilp, Charles, Bundeskanzleramt. Inter Nationes, Bonn 1970, Wilp, Charles, Wilp-Girl 70 : Charles Wilp present 12 Playgirls aus 5 Kontinenten

Works

• Konsumrealismus, Documenta 5 in Kassel, 1972
• Kunstblätter „Blick aus dem All“, 26. April bis 6. Mai 1993 in Oberpfaffenhofen (aerospace-mission D2)

Film-documentation

• Der gelbe Wellenmacher. German TV-documentation by Klaus Peter Dencker, ARD 1977
• monks - the transatlantic feedback. A documentary film about Wilp's collaboration with the first avant-garde pop band The Monks, USA/Germany/Spain 2006

Discography

• Prince Of Space, Musik Der Leere - (1965, Sight & Sound Production), with Yves Klein
• Charles Wilp Fotografiert Bunny - (1965, Ata Tak)
• Michelangelo In Space - The Bunny Remixes - (2000, Ata Tak)

Dedicated museums and collections

His native town Witten (situated in the Ruhr region) has just established a Charles Wilp museum called "Charles Wilp Space".