At the age of five, J. M. Kleber wrote his first word from dictation in calligraphy: »eresimitemutsin«. After graduating from high school, the study of musicology at the Free University and violin at the Municipal Conservatory in Berlin, he opened his pub in Berlin-Wilmersdorf, which he called NATUBS GALLERY. There he hosted regular exhibitions, lectures, concerts, and film screenings. In 1971, he and his wife Andrea opened the KLEBER GALLERY in Berlin-Charlottenburg. While still studying in 1965, he co-produced »Festschrift KLSCHTAKOFTA«, hand written in outline characters, the so-called »martialis klangholdis« of the »Natubs-Offizin«. Using this script, he wrote announcements, posters and sayings for the events in the gallery Natubs. In the early Eighties he started to record the sense and nonsense of the (alcohol-induced) wisdom of his guests on the reverse side of beermats. In 1989, after he gave up the pub and the gallery, he devoted himself solely to his scriptural passion. Johann Manfred Kleber lives and works in Berlin-Neukölln. From 1996 onwards, he regularly exhibits his work. He calls himself a »scriptopath« since August 2011.
Catalogue for the exhibition at the Kunsthalle Brennabor, Brandenburg a.d. Havel, from 02.12.2011-13.01.2012. Further information can be found at J. M. Kleber.
Authorship: Doris Buhss, Johann Manfred Kleber, Ulrike Oppelt