Sketch: Dancing shaman
Datum
Watercolor
Schamane, Aquarell auf Papier, ca 20cm x 30cm, Köln 1995
There were often very spontaneous acts by groups of artists and musicians on the studio grounds in Cologne Nippes. This sketch tells of a shamanic winter night in which a man dressed in furs and rags danced wildly in ecstasy in the center of spotlights set up all around him, while drums of all kinds provided a fantastic rhythm and others held colored foils and masks in front of the spotlights in rapid succession, so that a lightning-like play of colors and shadows turned the scenery into a magical place.
Like many artists – not only from Nippes – I had been renting a studio in the disused Cologne railway repair works for years. My social situation was very tense in the winter of 1995/96 and I moved in there temporarily. It didn’t really have anything to do with moving, because I packed a rucksack, put all other bulky garbage on the street and drove to Cologne in my Kadett – and that was it. I kept my job in Düren as a social worker in a learn-training-center for young adults. The journey from Cologne to Düren was free in the morning rush hour, while the other direction, Düren – Cologne, was always a traffic jam. It was cold, spartan and I would never have chosen that voluntarily, but it was very exciting and in my memory, which often only archives the beautiful experiences, it was a wonderful time.
