castelbajac blink

jean-charles de castelbajac...easily france's most eclectic and eccentric designer/artist/éminence rockandrolled out 40 years of brilliant tongue in fresh cheek ideas in the flesh in a major retrospective at the musée galliera in paris earlier this year..."gallierock" presented not only his iconic collection of playful wearables inspired by contemporary art trends and urban soundbites, but his personal collection of historical artefacts including a size 0 joan of arc armour and a size 2 dressing gown lived in by the exiled napoleon...

exalted audience participation was encouraged on the 5 meter high pink throne...

mini-sub-château

mini-sub-château [2007] oil and acrylic on canvas, 90 x 90 cm
south of paris, heading towards bourges, we drove by this newly built partial-château-style suburban-size maison in the woods...
the simplistic dollhouse design with its beaming white walls, symmetrically placed turrets, ballroom window/doors and coyly drawn virginal pink curtains provoked a stop-the-car reaction to marvel at such idiosyncratic approach to nostalgic historical pastiche on a minimal budget scale...

l'atelier

l'atelier [2007] oil and acrylic on canvas, 90 x 90 cm

l'atelier chez monsieur plaskett

a small inconspicuous building of medieval lineage on the rue pecquay hosted the general atelier of le vieil artiste, he who often hides within his own conversant paintings...
therein reigned sonorous gilt mirrors reflecting clusters of crystal tears dropped from the effusive chandeliers while ornately carved arches hung idly around the serene marble busts that rue sentinel over his works on view:
a blue pastel man plays the piano; a stern sea captain sits stiffly at a table; monsieur's flattened breakfast is served by the opened window where the bananas and a melon confront a vagrant pot of tea, and the three wide-mouthed jars sing a sweet, sweet chorus...
florid tulips bunched in a bottle tease the indignant brushes all crowded heads down in a can, fuming at their state of indecorum...
everywhere in a chaos of colours unruly paint mixes in blobs that smear and spill with voluptuous abandon, ready to be stroked onto the next waiting canvas.

'l'atelier chez monsieur plaskett' by g. verster, 2005

vient, chien

it could be a sign for one particular dog to find his way home, or it could be a sidewalk graffiti for any interested dogs to head towards that general direction for some mysterious encounters...
in paris, dogs can lead intriguing lives if so inclined - sometimes even implicating their unsuspecting owners...

zola

zola [2007] oil and acrylic on canvas, 61 x 90 cm

ever observant from his personal patch of the sidewalk outside his master's cafe on the quai des celestins, zola studies the gait of passersby, marking their character by the way they walk, smelling their sincerity as they wafted by...

'l'incroyable'

a worn jewel of a bistro set behind the palais royal,
lost in summary thoughts of darker days
when young men strutted about and posed
with the equanimity of today's runway models.
those who would have come and sat for meals
contrived by a vanquished patronne,
she of the rubied lips pout.
marooned in the heart of paris
after so many masquerade years,
she will dismantle the vainglorious namesake
of les incroyables,
and sublimate their commensal spirit
for the decorum of more placid revelations
in the circumspect province...

'l'incroyable' by g. verster, 2004
[INCROYABLE n. m. Sous le Directoire, jeune homme à la tenue vestimentaire recherchée et excentrique, et au langage affecté.]
(petit Larousse, 1982)

chartier

chartier [2007] oil and acrylic on canvas, 90 x 90 cm {SOLD}

on the rue de faubourg-montmartre, camille chartier opened this bouillon in 1895...where he provided 600 numbered pigeonholes to store the napkins of the neighbourhood workers and artisans who came for their daily meals... for l'addition the waiter simply scrawls out the prices on the paper tablecloth and add up the bill right under one's nose...
[we enjoyed bringing our american clients here just to watch their reaction to an order of cuisses de grenouille arranged carefully around the plate like miniature pairs of shapely human legs... sadly, this classic dish is no longer offered... there is an amusing english-translated website for the restaurant: www.restaurant-chartier.com , with its current menu listing, and the prices are still exceptionally reasonable for perfectly basic french fare...
the large mural was painted by a m. germont, dated 1929, in exchange for a few weeks' worth of meals]