Armando: Portrait of a Friend

It is "no fun" being an artist, Armando claims. But that is what he is. And that is why he has been expressing his ideas for all his long life. As a painter, sculptor, graphic artist, poet, writer, filmmaker, dramatist, actor and musician. "I'm one-sided in my many-sidedness," he says about this gamut of activities, of which "the tragedy of man" is the core. "That repulsive creature called man makes the most beautiful things," the artist says. "I find that miraculous." Cherry Duyns interviews his friend Armando, fifteen years his senior, with whom he performed absurdist sketches for years. He follows him during his farewell concert as a violinist, at the opening of an exhibition, and while sculpting and painting. Flashbacks give an overview of the development of his artistry. Meanwhile, an Armando museum has been opened in Amersfoort, but only since he turned 50 has he been able to subsist on his art work. Armando, occasionally having difficulty speaking, describes painting as "making something that nobody is waiting for," a losing battle against transitoriness. "You try to stop time in those paintings...in that art," he explains. "But you can't stop it. It goes on - eternally." (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)