A visit to Andrej Woron

Boudewijn Payens, Andrej Woron and Jad Salman

Visit on Friday, 18.11.2011

The bell does not work. We have to call again over the mobile phone so that he can open the door for us.

As we come up the stairs, he already greets us by explaining since two years he is trying to get the house owner to fix the opener for the door, but nothing happens. He looks at us with some expectation to see how we take the explanation and since we do not react, he continues to apologize why the visit has to be brief. He has a bad cold and besides not much time. In half a hour a choreographer is coming.

Later on, when our discussion is interrupted by a phone call, he returns to us to explain while working for two operas, one in Bremerhaven, the other in Halle, this call was already about engagements for 2013 and 2014.

We insist that we do not wish to disturb him, but if he could briefly take the time to look at the works of Jad Salman, then that would be fine.

Without further explanation he invites us into his apartment. Already in the corridor shelves greet us. They reach up to the ceiling and are filled with all kinds of books. Later on he would show us a favorite one of his: African masks or rather painted faces in Africa! It was an indication where he would sometimes get inspirations for his stage design and customes.

Andrej Woron and I met in Warszawa 1981/82, that is when martial law had led to a complete closure of the border and only medical and food transports were allowed in. Henryk Baranowski introduced us. Very soon it was decided to take back with us in the now empty trucks his paintings. Soon he followed them at the invitation of Henryk Baranowski who directed at that time the 'Transform' Theatre. Located in Kreuzberg, and more precisely on Zeughofstrasse, Andrej became his practical assistant and stage designer.

This meant, however, in practical terms after having completed his artistic work upstairs, Andrej Woron would go downstairs to the Greek restaurant at the corner and work as a waiter to earn some money. The contrast could not be greater as to what took place. When still upstairs he would show students and actors something about his art of making objects come alive, while downstairs he was the waiter for the very same students now his clients.

Andrej Woron painted around that time out of different angles spaces illuminated by a certain light. That made him follow a style called 'abstract Expressionism'. Insofar as he captures in his paintings a special force expressed as light, he attempts to show how light works by following certain configuration of lines. Within such a specific space he struggled always to make the abstract become concrete.

Andrej Woron, "my studio" - from his cyclus "inner spaces"

One key motive in his work of art was then and continues to be so a dedicated search for faithfulness. The latter must not be understood necessarily in terms of love between a man and a woman, but includes faithfulness as a belief in something which could make art become 'holy'. Here the Polish influence can be felt. Naturally, faithfulness extends itself to the man-woman relationship to give love an ethical dimension. In order to symbolize that he would introduce a third element, fore mostly a dog being more faithful in his belief than man himself and there he would include himself.

Expression in such a form turnes out to be an articulation of a desired synthesis of trust and staying power within one and the same relationship. He acknowledges constantly through his work that it will never be easy nor self-understood. He knows better that there shall always be other forces at work, forces which shall attempt to persuade one that it might be better to flee then stay in the same relationship. To have 'faith' in life to be shared with just one another person is like declaring matrinomy to be the most holy rite. With it go many unwritten rules and laws, different opinions and values, but important in this closely knitted involvement with the other is to realize what it does to artistic and all other work.

Art means to Andrej Woron to discover your own personality in the process of becoming aware as to what drives one on. It may in his words be sadness or equally happiness. The latter can be gained from just looking at a child playing in the street. Yet his look is special as he never ceases to be amazed and enthusiastic when something works and becomes phenomenonal by simple distinction. This is gained by taking on a life all of its own whether now a chair, a park bench or a person struggling to make it within society. There is nothing random about the feelings which accompany such a process of becoming true to oneself.

In that elementary sense of life turned into a search for a special kind of faithfulness, it reflects as well the dilemma of being in one way or another in exile. There was no going back to Poland after he came to Berlin. When Jaruselski departed finally from power, and Poland like the rest of Eastern Europe changed after 1989, it was no more a matter of choice for Andrej Woron whether to stay on in Berlin or else to return. Rather he had overcome some inner fears and decided to stay but in his own way of living in exile on a semi-permanent basis.

Among those fears was included the fear to drive in a car. For a long time, he could not drive himself and trusted no one to drive him but his faithful companion Susan. She came originally from Canada and defended him whenever needed like a Tiger. It was, therefore, a complete surprise to hear during this visit many years later, that is in November 2011, that he had learned in the meantime to drive by himself. It says something about a learning curve or the ability to adapt as long as there is given time and a real necessity to do so. Once his engagement took him to places like Bremerhaven, that is outside of Berlin, it must have become clear to him that was a necessity. Looking back, it shows how he had learned to survive and to cope despite many initial inhibitions and doubts he had and still has especially about himself.

One key sentence Andrej Woron articulated during one of my visits to his atelier when he had it just behind Kotbusser Tor, the main entry point into the Kreuzberg world of mixed cultures and sometimes dominated by those who had turned to the Islamic world once Chomeiny had returned to Iran in 1979.

Andrej Woron look at me with excited eyes. I knew he was about to tell me something of extreme importance to him. He said then around 1985: "even though Germans and I may read the same newspapers, nevertheless I sell to myself a different news!" This was the voice of the one in permanent exile. Threats and dangers are perceived differently from those who grew up in society under terms considered to be a part of normal socialisation. And naturally as citizens of this state they do not encounter or experience the same endangerments to their existence as does the immigrant who shall always feel to be an outsider to this society.

What struck in me a chord and what I am thinking about constantly when remembering him saying that was that he declared to be 'selling' to himself a different news. It meant he bought that particular news since of importance to him. He casts with that not merely news in an entirely new context - Kant defined news as the coming together of the expected with the unexpected - but revealed the material basis of such news which has importance to some persons but not to all. Cultural differentiation depends after all on the nuances in understanding as well news items.

All this reminded me of how Jean Amery described himself sitting on a bench in Zurich in 1933 and when reading a newspaper suddenly realized that he was no longer considered to be a German citizen, but only a Jew. The news pertained to the new law which had been issued once Hitler seized power in 1933. Amery survived three years of Auschwitz.

With all his sensitivity, Andrej Woron attracts certain forces that makes him aware how precarious is existence at any time, and therefore he does not take anything for granted. He is a true artist and dedicated to what is the art of making art, namely to be truthful about what one is doing. This then led to him taking the time to take a look at the work of Jad Salman. What was said within that short time period can be considered like a lesson for a life time especially for a young and aspiring artist like Jad Salman. Here then some of the aesthetical principles Andrej Woron referred to while looking at the art work of Jad Salman spread out in front of him on the wooden floor and as well to be seen in a sketch book Jad had brought with him.

Andrej Woron looking Photo by Boudewijn Payens

Ästhetische Prinzipien von Andrej Woron - Anmerkung zu den Arbeiten von Jad Salman

Ich möchte gar nicht Lehrer mehr sein. Das war ich vor einer langen Zeit, aber jetzt nicht mehr.
Es ist schwierig Kritik zu üben. Ich will niemanden verletzten.
Na ja, schauen wir mal diese Bilder an.
Ich sehe der Junge hat Talent aber er muss noch sehr viel arbeiten.
Wenn mein Blick über seine Bilder zu schnell hinweg gehen, also nicht bei einem einzelnen Bild stehen bleiben, dann ist das kein gutes Zeichen.
Der Blick muss vom Bild angehalten werden.
Ach bei den Bildern mit einem grösseren Format sehe ich eine positive Entwicklung. Das ist schon etwas. Der Ausdruck gefällt mir, nur muss er noch viel mehr daran arbeiten: geistig aber auch körperlich.
Er muss Abstand finden und sich mit dem Bild auseinander setzen.
Ich will nicht so viel sagen, aber eines möchte ich schon betonen: die Gefahr des Informellen. Das ist eine ganz schlechte Kunst. Die gefällt mir ganz und gar nicht.
Mir scheint es er gibt sich manchmal allzu schnell zufrieden. Nein, er muss nicht mit solchen Bildern zufrieden geben die man in jeder Ärztepraxis zu sehen bekommt. Stattdessen muß er solange daran und an sich arbeiten, daß er eher noch unsicher wird in was er da vor sich auf der Leinwand hat. Erst wenn er ganz unsicher ist, dann hat er vielleicht etwas gefunden.
All das ist noch viel zu abstrakt. Er muss konkreter werden oder besser gesagt das Abstrakte konkretisieren.
Ja, bei diesen Arbeiten sehe ich ein Talent und er hat da schon ein gutes Gefühl für Farben und räumlicher Einteilung, aber er sollte es auf einem viel größeren Format versuchen und sich nicht allzu schnell zufrieden geben. Heutzutage denken die jungen Künstler zu früh daran wo werden sie ausstellen statt darauf zu achten was sie ausstellen werden.
Ich habe das Gefühl die jungen Künstler müssten sich vielmehr die Zeit geben ehe sie ihre Bilder in einer Ausstellung zeigen. Sie setzen sich damit einer Gefahr aus allzu schnell vom eigenen Weg abzukommen. Sie müssen sich erst finden so dass das Bild die eigene Handschrift trägt, und jeder Betrachter sagen kann dieses Bild wurde von diesem und keinem anderen Künstler gemalt.

Aesthetical principles of Andrej Woron - remarks to the works by Jad Salman

I do not want to be any longer the teacher. That I have been a long time ago, but now no more.
It is hard to exercise criticism. I do not wish to hurt anyone.
Okay, let us take a look at the pictures.
I see that the boy has talents but he must work still very hard.
If my glance passes over a picture too quickly, and does not come to rest on just one picture, that is bad.
The glance must be held steadfast by the picture.
But in the pictures of a larger size, there I see a positive development. There is something. I like the expression, only he has to work on them much harder, not only mentally but with his body.
He has to find some distance to his work and confront himself through them.
I do not wish to say too much, but one thing I want to emphasize: the danger of remaining informal. That then would be bad art. That I do not like the least bit.
It appears to me at times he is too quickly satisfied with what he has produced and then rushes on to the next. He should not be satisfied all too easily as it would mean producing only those pictures you can find in any waiting room of some doctor or dentist.
Instead he should and has to work for a long time on them, so that he becomes ever more uncertain in what he has there on the canvas in front of him. Only when he is completely uncertain, perhaps then he might have found something.
Everything is still all too abstracxt. He must become more concrete or rather he has to concretize the abstract.
Yes, in these works I see a talent and he has already a very good feeling for colours and for spatial divisions, but he should try out himself on a larger canvas and not to be too readily satisfied with what he has achieved. Nowadays young artists think much too early as to where they will have an exhibition than about the real substance of their works.
I have the feeling that young artists should devote much more time to their work rather than be occupied to show their pictures in an exhibition. They expose themselves as a result to the danger of deviating from their own path. They have to find first what carries their own handwriting so that everyone can recognize that painting stems from that artist and none other.

Jad Salman listening to Andrej Woron Photo by Boudewijn Payens

There is still another side to Andrej Woron: not the painter but the stage designer, theater director and who knows what else when bringing pictures of his rich imagination onto the stage. It is like paintings coming to life when actors begin to act out scenes within a setting he imagined would fit that specific interpretation of the play.

That side of him I don't know really well as his success with Theatre Kreatur began after I had left Berlin to live in Athens. Only recently we met again and then by coincidence at an exhibition shown at the Academy of Arts. The exhibition was about two cities having problems with water: Venice with too much water, Las Vegas nearly without! He greeted me with great happiness to see me again. The feeling was likewise.

We had worked together at a Free Art School called 'die Etage' near Südstern. He made it possible for me to follow a dream and to teach what I really love: art history in combination with philosophy. Andrej Woron said to me at that time that he does not want to explain to his students learning to paint what he means when he tells them not to paint like Vincent Van Gogh; this is where I would come in. He wanted me to give them that information, indeed historical background to the development of the arts. So I started to teach philosophy and art history. Despite being theoretical stuff, it became practical with students sometimes answering by doing a Pantomime or else bringing into class their paintings. We looked at slides and discussed why Expressionism, but not Surrealism had such a strong presence in Germany. It was good to have the Memorial library build with the help of American money after the war to provide the slides. So while Andrej Woron became fully immersed in both his classes and in his own painting, we explored what art could stand for and do. It was a wonderful combination which lasted for two years, 1985-87. It ended by the school throwing me out due to my demands for more democracy, but by that time I was already on my way to Greece. Interestingly enough my last class there was about Greek myth as viewed through the poems by Ritsos, Elytis and Seferis.

About his work as stage designer and theatre director, more needs to be said later. When we were visiting him, he was preparing two sets for operas, one in Bremerhaven and the other in Halle. One of them had to be ready by January, the other three months later in April 2012.

As to his work place in the flat, there is this special room filled with tools but also models of his most recent works.

Work place of A.W. Photo by Boudewijn Payens

By taking a closer look at his models for another set, it was easy to gather evidence of his incredible work. He is clearly capable of transforming even the most trivial stage into a magical place. And as one critic of his work points out, he wishes to be phenomenal or to express astonishment when finally everything fits together: actors, set, music and the text interpreted in a novel way. The only word in Polish to say it is 'kurwa'. That expresses best his entire personality for he is a true artist.

It is, therefore, all the more interesting what he undertakes in order to substantiate the language of the theatre, customes and sets included, with what is his understanding of painting.

When we were about to leave and apologized once again for taking his precious time, he said something that can only be understood how he meant it when understanding him as the artist that he is and has become through this recent work on stage. He said with sadness in his eyes and touched by this encounter with the work of Jad Salman: "you know I have betrayed my own painting!" He meant that he has given up to paint 15 years ago and how he knew him when we had worked together.

On the way back to the U-bahnstation, but already at the corner of the Friesenstraße on which he lives, we noticed a bookshop. Oddily enough it had at the top of its window a gun in neon light as if wishing to advertise inside are waiting 'Krimis': books dealing with crime or crooked stories! Yet it was not necessarily about the myth about smoking guns. The latter play usually a role when foreign powers suspect someone like Saddam Hussein in Iraq 2003 that he had used them when in fact there were none. The spotting of the gun was an unexpected reminder with what attrapes we are surrounded with when in fact a real world had just been revealed to us by visiting Andrej Woron. It underlines once more the need for such honest artists who really create and give freely their best whenever asked.

Bookshop in Friesenstraße, Berlin Photo by Boudewijn Payens

^ Top

« Universität der Künste | New Art Galleries near Check Point Charlie: Rudi Dutschke and Charlotten Streets »

Ποιειν Και Πραττειν - create and do

Navigation

A visit to Andrej Woron

A visit to Andrej Woron