Armando

Maartje Seyferth and Victor Nieuwenhuijs have made a very personal portrait of the Dutch artist Armando. Starting from his work, they show the passion of this man. Seyferth and Nieuwenhuijs do not present an historic survey of Armando's influence on art, although his formation of the 'Nulgroep' as a reaction to Cobra was of international significance.
During a train journey, Armando gives his thoughts about his latest works free rein. His pieces of art are simple in their form but powerful in their import. Armando has utilized symbols and metaphors of strength: flags and trees are depicted almost abstractly. This is not so surprising, coming from an artist who has lived in Berlin since 1979. This city is inextricably bound up with WW II. Armando has always been fascinated by this period in history, that has determined his youth, and he is directly inspired by the history of Berlin.
By showing documentary pictures of the war, the camera shoots the landscapes of Armando's paintings and the ideas behind them. The film records the construction of an immense flag, made of grey clay, and shows its function through authentic images. Armando expresses his interpretations of the past in an aesthetic way. Armando is a portrait of an engaged person, a film as he himself probably would have made it: associative, personal, but also aloof, as an interpretation of a period of time.