ANDREY KLASSEN. Stories beyond Color

Our film on Andrey Klassen, recent recipient of the STRABAG Artaward International 2024, offers an intimate look into the mind of an artist who has found freedom in monochrome. Born in Irkutsk, Russia, and trained in both Irkutsk and Dresden, Klassen has dedicated himself to ink as his primary medium, embracing its challenges—where every stroke is final, with no room for correction. Through this process, Klassen creates dense, layered compositions that invite humor, tension, and ambiguity, all woven together without pre-sketching or rehearsal. He describes this as “painting a picture and writing a book at once,” capturing countless stories in a single artwork. In our short-film Klassen dives into his concept of art, his pursuit of tranquility through artistic asceticism, and his unique relationship with ink. It’s a compelling portrait of an artist at the intersection of painting and drawing, pushing the boundaries of black and white to create evocative worlds on paper.

https://www.strabag-kunstforum.at/

Interviewee: Andrey Klassen
Artworks by: Andrey Klassen

Copyright info: The audio and video recording has been made with personal permission of the artist.
Licensing: 0
Language(s): German, English
Subtitles: German, English
Producer: KA21 GmbH / CastYourArt
Production crew: Wolfgang Haas, Helmut Feier, Michael Rottmann
Production country: Austria, Vienna