Johnny de Brest

Johnny de Brest (born May 16, 1963 in Nordhorn, Germany, as Olaf Enkrodt), is an international artist and photographer who exhibited his work successfully in America and became famous with his provocative photo-novel "Vladracul", a photo-story loosely based on Bram Stoker's Dracula.
Biography
Johnny de Brest, 1963, born in Nordhorn, former West-Germany, lived with his family for some years near by Hamburg before he returned to Nordhorn in the late Sixties.
His grandfather was August Perk, who became a victim of the National Socialists and died in 1945. August Perk had a briefly friendship with German author Erich Maria Remarque.
([http://www.noz.de/lokales/16286938/-kritische-aeu-szlig-erung-mit-dem-leben-bezahlt "Kritische Äußerung mit dem Leben bezahlt…"])
In the 1980s Johnny de Brest lived in Münster, former West-Germany and worked for some years in the printing industry. Johnny de Brest began taking photographs of parties, of wayside scenes on journeys to concerts and staged fashion-portraits. Beside he used the photo-booth, taking pictures of himself, posing as a pop-star of the 1980s, like The Smiths or Bros. In 1990, after the fall of the "wall", de Brest moved over to Berlin.
Vladracul
The provocative photo-novel "Vladracul", loosely based on Bram Stoker's Dracula, was photographed between 1991 and 1996.
Around 15.000 photographs were shot in Berlin, Poland: Kraków, Oswiecim, Auschwitz and Birkenau. "Vladracul" is full of contrasts, the media- and press-reaction confirmed this and the exhibitions in Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Washington, D.C.. got a lot attention: The Washington Diplomat: The photo novella is an intriguing and unique exhibit that shocks, disturbs and arouses the viewer's interest. LA Weekly, Los Angeles and the New Yorker Filmmaker Magazine evaluated "Vladracul" as follows: Vladracul, a modern-day allegorical spin on the Dracula tale, shot in Berlin and Poland... was culled from over 15,000 images, from brightly-lit contemporary clubs pulsating with undercurrents of darkness
Courtney Love commended the "Vladracul"-Photographs: "You are young Gods".
That partly in Splatter film-aesthetics photographed artwork "Vladracul" (1991 - 1996) inspired numerous artists, including Madonna and Chris Cunningham / Aphex Twin to their video "Frozen" (1998), Director Rocky Schenck, Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue to their Song and Video "Where the wild Roses grow"
("Murder Ballads", 1995/1996). There are also references in Matthew Barney's "The Cremaster Cycle" to "Vladracul". The Washington City Paper noted: Some of the man-monster creatures recall the films of Matthew Barney, and the lurid local-color details—Mina Harker gets gang-raped at Marlene Dietrich’s grave—suggest a concept album that David Bowie never got around to making during his Berlin phase. (A soundtrack of late-’70s Bowie, Iggy, and Eno would be apt.).
The Foto-Fix-World of Johnny de Brest
Johnny de Brest used the photo-booths of the Berlin subway as his studio and transformed into ever changing objects, creating momentary, one-take Dada-esque installations, that are satiric, poetic and provocative. He'd quickly changed into a pop character, like
Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe, Kurt Cobain, Eminem, Jack White (The White Stripes), Vincent van Gogh or himself in some state of mind.
Between February and June 1997 Phoinissa (Bombay based artist) and Johnny de Brest's street-art-Foto-Fix-placards "We Crash Them All" and "We Shot Them All" got a lot attention in Berlin, Münster (Germany), New York and Los Angeles. Actress Rachel Weisz was photographed with the placard "We Shot Them All" and Courtney Love owns one of the original photographs that was used for "We Crash Them All". Months and years later these placards led to a Conspiracy Theory: "We Crash Them All" with the image of a car wreck and the second placard "We Shot Them All" referred to an Amok, anticipated Princess Diana's death in a car wreck (August 1997) and the murder of Gianni Versace in July 1997, who was shot by a Serial Killer.
War - Fashion - Fake
Johnny de Brest's latest work is a photo-commentary on the use of breaking news and military-images in fashion and art. Photographed between 1997 and 2011, inspired througn the death of Diana, Princess of Wales and a dream he had in 1991, where Diana died. Over a period of years thousands of photos were shot and amount a furious mix of media-images, war, sex, stars and poverty. Since 2007 "War-Fashion-Fake" is online in a shortened version and as an Imitation of a news-site: "JDB ENTERTAINMENT - CHANNEL 4". "War-Fashion-Fake" pays associative Homage to CNN and Ray Bradburys Fahrenheit 451.

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