Experiencing Interruptions?

'Paradise Alley'

'Paradise Alley' is an experimental silent film.

The film was shot on super 8 mm, in Batu Karas, West Java, Indonesia.

I went from living in 'Urban Space' to living in the 'Tropics'.

I traded the 'Skyscraper' for a 'Palmtree'. This had a huge influence on my work as an Artist.

Living in Bali, this close to the spirit of nature, and amongst people that practice Hindiusm daily, has been life changing.

I’ve been mostly focused on a spiritual practice, studying Yogic culture, Vedic culture, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sanskrit, Tribal cultures, Anthropology, the use of symbols of the Occult/Alchemy, etc…

The Palmtree became the metaphor for my ‘Atman’.

'Atman' is a Sanskrit word that means inner self or soul.

In Hindu philosophy, especially in the Vedanta school of Hinduism, Atman is the first principle, the true self of an individual beyond identification with phenomena, the essence of an individual.

In order to attain liberation, a human being must acquire self-knowledge (Atma Jnana), which is to realise that one's true self (Atman) is identical with the transcendent self Brahman.

The title of the film 'Paradise Alley' refers to the 'morph' between 'urban space' and the 'tropics'.

Sarasvati: You are me

My consciousness shines in your world,
like a beautiful face in a soiled mirror,
Seeing that reflection, I call myself you,
an individual soul, as if I could be finite!

A finite soul, an infinite goddess,
these are false concepts,
in the minds of those unacquainted with truth.

No space, my loving devotee,
exists between your Self and my Self,
Know this and you are free,
This is the secret wisdom.

—Saraswati Rhasya Upanishad 2.31–2.33

  • andy wauman
    Director
  • andy wauman
    Writer
  • andy wauman
    Producer
  • Kale Neville
    Editor
  • Project Type:
    Experimental
  • Runtime:
    1 minute 20 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    November 16, 2016
  • Production Budget:
    5,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Belgium
  • Country of Filming:
    Indonesia
  • Shooting Format:
    Super 8
  • Film Color:
    Black & White and Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - andy wauman

Andy Wauman's works speaks about the possibility of freedom. They are messages with a romantic sense for anarchy and love. In his statements, he often uses images that have been violated, multiplied and copied by commercial media. He recuperates common metaphors and symbols and gives them back their original romantic touch or even ideological meaning. The poetic quality is striking. Within an upcoming movement of new young artists using the language of the social context they grew up in, with the so-called popular culture and media as basic ingredients. Andy Wauman’s feeling for materials and authentic meaning is a marker.

Words by Dries Verstraete.

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‘The Rite of the Black Sun’
by Ano Mac

This is a man that can’t sit still, continually rummaging around sorting thought into the various machinations of mysticism and meant. He’s the scrutinizer of the stuff that puckers on the top when you scratch the skin of life.

Some time back Andy Wauman replaced pavement with palm trees in his journey to find an implication of it all. Since living in Bali Andy’s art has been more and more about exploring the existentialism of this cut off Hindu culture while at the same time dilly-dallying with their symbolism.

In this, his latest teaching, the name of which Andy adopted from Antonin Artaud’s poem, he’s staked out a snapshot of his fidgety soul. It’s a multi sensory exploration of what currently resides. A mesmorising mental flush of his verve, preaching nothing but not keeping quiet about it either.

Would and were to be. Not instantly evident they are truly narrative of the artist over layered with meaning and meant. Flags once were triumphs, flown overhead when kings as they rode into battle. Triumphs also known as Trionfi, a name Tarot wore in another age. Glimpses of understanding. A four dimensional exploration of his id. Autobiographical in title and substance, all of which is hidden here in this gallery… in plain sight.

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'Tropicalization'
by Ano Mac

It took a surfboard to crow bar him out of his urban comfort zone and cast him adrift. Upheaval for an artist is good, especially one who questions everything around him. Bali for Andy Wauman has been great.

When the last of the cement finally fell away, Andy’s direction and intent took on changed forms and resolve. Not surprising in a place where high-rise is a palm tree. That’s not to say that the concrete isn’t still there, it’s just travelling in a different direction.

Tropicalization is the white of the black of it. The finding of a new voice in the quasi-rural confines of this, his new home. The social commentary and anti-cynicism stances, his art is known for, persist and are articulated through similar yet very different mediums.

Andy Wauman’s creative muse has long been the street, skateboarding, the city. We’re seeing another side of him through a show that's monochromatic and amusing. Sexual in it’s severity. Bleak might just well be neat.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

“Generally my work has it’s origins in my conviction that a truly living culture can only arise from social structures and that the only theory a contemporary artist can feed on is necessarily a social one. I do not recycle existing forms, I try to make new ones based on my own background. Which is what distinguishes an artist from a marketeer. I try to inject the spontaneous energy from the street into my artistic practice, and I create my own contribution to the ‘revolution of everyday life’ in the shape of texts and objects. Therefore, a recurrent element in my work is my protesting against cynicism and a preference for the sensuality and romantic value of the materials of the street, the ones the vagabond knows better than the bourgeois. But rather than a political activist, I like to call myself a poetical terrorist. “

Andy Wauman, 2007