Monday, January 28, 2008

c'est une valse ancienne...


c'est une valse ancienne...
Originally uploaded by gverster_artwork.

l'orchestre reprend la romance
qui grisait le monde aboli
dans mes bras madame O démence
démon que vous êtes joli
au coeur même de la cadence
qu'est-ce qui bat comme un tambour
c'est cependant la même danse
mais ce n'est plus le même amour...

>[Louis ARAGON, de "Valse du Tcheliabtraktrostroi"]

Friday, January 25, 2008

châtelaillon-plage


châtelaillon-plage
Originally uploaded by gverster_artwork.

châtelaillon-plage [2008] oil on linen; 45 x 60 cm

an old shoe store, long shuttered up, glass panes blackened, but still displaying hand-painted silhouettes of the shoes it had offered within...
[delicate, elegant shoes, sturdy, practical boots that had once graced the seaside manors and strolled along these breezy shores of the french atlantic coast...]

Sunday, January 20, 2008

paris primitive


paris primitive
Originally uploaded by gverster_artwork.

insurmountable walls shield what cannot be seen, but the smell is unmistakable...that earthy, sweaty scent of horses and hay wafting out from the high grilled windows...the faint sounds of the impatient snorting of powerful beasts in captivity...
[on a dark side street off the boulevard henri IV, spectres of armoured horses glide silently by, mindful of the timid observers hiding in the shadows...]

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

les objets embroussaillés


the shimmering seine on a late fall afternoon glimpsed through loosely knitted branches of spun gold leaves...


a strung together ship 20 years in the making, finally ready to be launched in the pond at the jardin du luxembourg...


what a tangled web we weave...red intrigue near the bastille...

Saturday, January 12, 2008

further along the charente


further along the charente [2008] oil and acrylic on canvas; 75 x 100 cm

françois I once proclaimed the charente as the most beautiful river in the kingdom...
and as we wandered along this river on some misty mornings, the distant ringing of ancient bells in unison with the proud crowing of the french coq, we spied peahens sitting patiently on the spreading branches of a juniper tree, and tiny dewy jonquils nodding in the breeze along the banks...we have to agree that the charente is indeed an enchanted river...

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

along the charente


along the charente
Originally uploaded by gverster_artwork.

along the charente [2008] oil and acrylic on canvas; 75 x 100 cm

the rivers of france...the lifelines of a yielding and bountiful land...we follow some to the sea and we follow some to their source, but always the flow of the water lulls us along...

Saturday, January 5, 2008

une vue vespérale


une vue vespérale [2007] oil and acrylic on canvas; 60 x 75 cm

trois allumettes une à une allumées dans la nuit
la première pour voir ton visage tout entier
la seconde pour voir tes yeux
la dernière pour voir ta bouche
et l'obscurité tout entière pour me rappeler tout cela
en te serrant dans mes bras.

"Paris at night" [from "Paroles" (1946) by Jacques Prévert]

Thursday, January 3, 2008

mets en fuite


mets en fuite
Originally uploaded by gverster_artwork.

may the year take flight to many more fortuitous adventures and some high-kicking footloose creativity...
to all an auspicious and exalted 2008!