Shadows of the fire dancing on the white calcite walls. Autumn of the northern hemisphere takes over this part of the world. Nights are getting longer. Trees in ochres. Storytellers awake. An old man takes a piece of a charcoal, curious children gather behind him. He lifts his hand to start a dance. Once a wise dancer said – when you draw your hand is dancing. And quite a dance it is! Full of beautifully shaped black lines led with the earthly colours, a deer, a rhinoceros and a bear, horses and a few lions brought into life on an ancient dome. Cosmos smells of the deer. World smells of the tales.
Some nineteen thousands years later much closer to the equator, grandchildren of the Lascaux storytellers still carry their dream. How do I know? Their eyes are wide open, bright and curious. Their thoughts are playful. Their hands are dirty, ready for dancing. And dirty dancing it is! Without a doubt Alan is one of them! A glimpse is enough to know.
He is among the dirtiest students of a model drawing class. He draws on the paper, on the floor and on himself. He laughs a lot. Cheerful laughter is a good beginning of a tale worth listening. I still wonder how come he is not kicked out of the gallery? Perhaps the friendly Balinese spirits laugh along with him? World is a playground. Rule number 1 of a storyteller: Play often!
Market day! Alan takes a big bag along. The bag is full. He is not going to buy anything though. Except maybe for a few giggles of the children and some friendly comments of the adults with the child within. The bag is full of crayons, blow pens, pencils and Balinese gods know only what more! Alan’s book fills with the faces. Portraits full of stories. Stories full of beauty. World is a playground for the stories. Rule number 2 of a storyteller: Play often!
I still do not know who am I going to be when I grow up, Alan repeats often. His eyes shine with a childlike curiosity. I can hardly think of anyone else with the eyes that bright open. He listens to the masters, well, he tries. Storytellers are often not the humblest ones. He is told to search for the concept, for a reason to create. Isn’t beauty a concept itself? And a need to create a reason good enough? World is a playground of the beauty. Rule number 3 of a storyteller: Play often!
Alan once heard from his tango teacher that he might lack the technique, yet he got the drama! According to the art critiques he may lack the technique or the concept together with many before him, like Joseph Cornell, Vincent van Gogh and Henri Rousseau, to mention just a few of them, yet he has got the beauty!
Look for the beauty.
Where the beauty dwells you will find all the tales.
Where there are tales, there is everything.
Mau ke mana?
JAlan jAlan!
Where are you going?
I am just walking, I am just Alaning.
WOJCIECH WĘGRZYŃSKI, cordial observer of the world, wanderer, painter and poet, author of Okruchy Chwil.