A Birthday Letter to Otto Zitko

I’m writing to express my sincere gratitude for your efforts and my admiration for your work, which will never cease to inspire.

Letters from Vienna #21

A work by Otto Zitko from 1989

A Birthday Letter to Otto Zitko

Dear Otto,

I sincerely hope you regard me as a loyal friend and not like one of your scorned, half-forgotten lovers who spews malice, bile and spite in your wake. I’m sincerely unhappy about our public differences and sincerely hope we can make amends. After all: it is good to disagree and break up conformity. What is life without freedom, honesty or respect?

I’m writing to express my sincere gratitude for your efforts and my admiration for your work, which will never cease to inspire.

I share your concern about the state of the world; it too weighs heavily on me. I too see how the condition of man, woman, child, animal and every sentient being is ever worsening. I too am preoccupied with questions of love and pain, life and death, hell, heaven and God. I too am frightened by the current global situation yet know, as you do, that artists can achieve little in the realm of politics. Though, like you, I remain a sceptic I am no longer the same atheist I was before; in that respect this crisis has made me quite a mystic.

Like you, I believe that the “mist will clear” and, like you: that there are multiple opportunities for new beginnings. I too, look hopefully and optimistically toward the future. Above all else: I look forward to seeing your wonderful art on ceilings, walls and mirrors once more.

Yours Sincerely,

Michael Bürgermeister