Brinkmann received his first awards as an art student, and his distinct work, which fluctuates from photography and sculpture to performance and installation, was featured in exhibitions. This “wonderfully absurd artist” (DIE ZEIT) achieved a breakthrough with Portraits of a Serialsammler (Portraits of a serial collector). In this 2003 series of photographs, Brinkmann dressed himself in discarded everyday items and second-hand clothing, putting lampshades, pillowcases, or battered buckets on his head, enveloping himself in brocade jackets, frilly dresses, or couch covers. For his photographic still lifes, readymades, and installations, the artist also makes use of an enormous store of rubbish, turning surprising combinations of scrapped materials and references to art history into space for the viewer to reevaluate, contemplate, and see things in a new light. In recent years large arrangements and site-specificity have been increasingly important to Brinkmann’s work. This is also the case with his piece La Hütte Royal, in which he took an entire house in Pittsburgh done in late 1970s’ style and turned it into a total work of art. Our very humorous Collector's Edition, a veritable art object, stems from this project. Every piece is unique, because each one consists of a high-quality, signed and numbered C-print; a vintage LP found in the house, whose cover the artist has signed and reworked using silkscreening; and a booklet.
