The paperhanger

Article about Wolf v.Waldow in "Männer"-magazine 9/10 by Carsten Bauhaus

Wolf von Waldow Moves Between Tradition and Modernity: Especially Creative in Wallpaper Design – A House Visit

At the reopening of the cult café Bierhimmel in Berlin-Kreuzberg this spring, regular patrons were in for a surprise: soft pastel colors now dominate the L-shaped room, visually separating it from the worn, trashy Oranienstraße outside. Wallpapers reminiscent of the Biedermeier period now adorn this queer bar in Germany’s anarchist heart. Table tops mimic precisely arranged lace doilies – ironically, yet they also highlight the charming contradictions of this Kreuzberg institution: despite its name, Bierhimmel has always been more of a café than a bar, renowned above all for its famous Tränentorte – a chocolate and marzipan cake.

A closer look at the walls delights the eye with unexpected motifs: a rapping youth gang or a Turkish housewife vacuuming – cozy silhouettes on a wallpaper frieze that also imitates traditional wood inlays. A radical clash of content and form. The artist responsible for this fresh vision of the old space is Wolf von Waldow, himself a hybrid of sorts. His name is no pseudonym: von Waldow comes from an old West Prussian noble family. He sports a Mohawk and sneakers, paired with a broad, friendly smile. In his three-room apartment in Prenzlauer Berg, the many antique furnishings are counterbalanced by his bedframe: a bare slatted frame resting on concrete blocks. Vivaldi plays. On the turned coffee table sit a milk jug and sugar bowl decorated with roses.

Wolf von Waldow recounts long, inspiring nights at the Berghain techno club, where ideas for artworks often strike him in the middle of the night. He always carries pen and paper, even though the cryptic sketches often make little sense the next day.

He has a special relationship with Bierhimmel, having celebrated his wedding there. Cakes are also his hobby. On the wall hangs his latest work: another strip of wallpaper, this time with refugee motifs, called refugee camp. “I’m interested in how we here on ‘Island Europe’ respond to news from the rest of the world, where things aren’t quite as neat as they are here,” explains the artist. For wallpaper as a medium, this is certainly an unusual topic—precisely what intrigued von Waldow: “Wallpaper is usually associated with themes like coziness, home, and permanence.” Because of the obvious contradiction between content and form, between appearance and message, von Waldow has been working with wallpaper for several years, as it “has one foot rooted in everyday life. Moreover, it’s an artistic form that really intervenes in the space.”

A closer look reveals the layered complexity of the digital print, reflecting Wolf’s love for detail: security patterns similar to those on ID cards serve as “decorative” backgrounds. Names of refugee camps form a “decorative” band. Repeatedly, von Waldow seeks to charge ornament with meaning, creating tension between form and content: “Ornament was originally a symbolic language, which later took on a life of its own.”

Wolf first drew attention in 1993 with his scroll-sawn genital jewelry. Decorative but unwearable wooden pieces in various styles – from Baroque to folk painting, even a Mondrian-inspired piece. “The diversity of motifs reflects the gay ability to slip into different styles and roles,” says von Waldow. In his view, many gay people learn this during coming out, when they suddenly fall out of the “hetero role” and must redefine themselves: “As a gay man, you realize early that there are various ways to be or express yourself.” This role-distance – an ironic detachment that also applies to his role as an artist – may have become a defining feature of “gay art” since Andy Warhol. “I’ve always had a little of the artistic gesture ‘look, I express myself!’ as a gay artist,” he adds.

Instead, he combines styles and expressive possibilities in his art that would otherwise belong to separate spheres. For example, in his wallpapers – shaped by bourgeois precision – he repeatedly incorporates brands and symbols fetishized by gay culture: Adidas, Fred Perry, but also the biohazard sign representing risky sex. “These are motifs from my gay everyday life in Berlin,” says von Waldow. “They form a subtext that heterosexuals often cannot decipher.” His stylistic mix recalls opera-goers in leather chaps or an Army fetishist proudly displaying a collection of souvenir cups at home.

Over time, von Waldow has mastered a variety of artisanal techniques: metalwork and inlay, stucco marbling, painting, printing. These skills make him ideal for art-in-architecture projects. At the Le Royal Meridien Hotel in Hamburg, for example, von Waldow designed the swimming pool, a bar, and several rooms. His works exude craftsmanship: “I’m very meticulous and try to work as precisely as possible,” he admits in his characteristic clear diction. His love for craftsmanship, decoration, and ornamentation is surely connected to his upbringing.

“My upbringing wasn’t strictly Prussian, but I sensed from my environment that there was something that existed before my grandparents – and it has something to do with me.” As a child, Wolf could never understand why his mother wore typical 1960s fashion “instead of those chic Rococo dresses in the family portraits.” For his wallpaper project mental map, a commission for the Griffelkunst Association, he used old family album photos. “The work deals with being caught in your own past, through memories you carry with you.” A theme that personally resonates with the 48-year-old: “The older you get, the more you notice how much your past determines you – and how, up to a certain point, you remain unfree. Sometimes I envy artists who just throw paint onto the canvas from the gut. I couldn’t do that.” His works are rigorously conceived and thrive on the perfection of execution. But von Waldow also places great importance on content: “I do have a certain pedagogical impetus: to show that there is a connection between history and the present. And that the past is a mirror through which you can better understand the present.”