Wild is the Wind

I don't care about terrorism, antisemitism, sexual agressions today, and I didn't yesterday either.

I don't care about the 388th birthday of Charles Perrault.

 

 

Why did this happen, why did he leave?

David Jones, of course.

 

He was the one I needed. I had his songs under my skin, his look and smile in my eyes. He had touched me at heart, so many times, in so many ways, made me dance, fly, travel, endure tooth extraction, introduced me to vampire stories and great directors, he haunted me as Twin Peaks. He brought me consolation often. Rock'n Roll Suicide, you're not alone, and I was not alone. He brought me through darkness sometimes. But I felt tremendously alive from all those emotions he provided, and no, no, not alone. Except with those late emotions. Lazarrus Wake up, black star swallow me. What next? This new avatar, Bowie singing from heaven, was not at all what I waited for.

 

 

It was the second time I cried over someone I didn't know personnally.

First time, it was Serge Gainsbourg. The man who wrote "Beau ou comme Bowie", and better.

I was a kid. I had taught me a lot, too, and instilled poetry and emotions in my world.

I cried a bit and spent one day listening to him.

 

It is so much worse now. How many more years did I live "with" Bowie?

I didn't like as much his last albums but they were there, with precious moments, his creativeness was never ending.

His voice wasn't as good, but he still communicated all he wanted to.

His eyes were bright, he was elegant as always, vulnerable, but he had always used vulnerability too.

 

It was so important for me to know, as I thought I knew, that he was well.

Never let me down, we sang...

 

I've been crying rivers but spent hours, since the bad new of his death came to my ear, in beauty, far from the daily news of terrorist killings, amongst the stars with Major Tom, or somewhere between here and there. Don't go far, handsome.
I saw him in Summer 2004 in the Arènes de Nîmes, amongst 12000 privilegied (a good part of us finished the night on the stairs of the train station, he gave a great long concert...).

A few nice vids:



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other news I don't want to hear about now: agressions against women, jews,

tourists... We couldn't afford to lose him.



 

French equestrian magic: the Cadre Noir

Montpellier received in December 5th, 6th and 7th the famous gala of the Cadre noir from Saumur. 69 € for a correct seat: it looks expensive, but contributing to the expenses of this gorgeous team of splendid horses and riders is a priviledge, the transaction was very fair given the quality of the show, and well, it is less expensive than going to Saumur.

I have, by the past, seen beautiful equestrian shows. Lipizzans in Vienna, Crinières d'Or in Avignon, Bartabas & Zingaro & the Versailles academy of equestrian arts, Jean-François Pignon, Lorenzo... I have an inclination to dressage. It is less spectacular at child's sight, but it is upsetting. I am sooo lucky I could witness lessons given by Lucien Gruss, Catherine Henriquet, and the regretted Michel Henriquet, a maître écuyer who past away a few days ago. Michel Henriquet studied 30 years long with Nuno Oliveira, the portuguese master. He was 90 years old. I was tetanized in front of him. I once rode a stallion at his place, just to see. I was tetanized by the horse too. He was sweet but I was lost, perfectly sure that he expected me to possess a science I didn't have and wished me to ask passage, croupade and all the stuff he did so gracefully.

Seing the Cadre Noir for the first time in reality was quite a treat.

Xmas before Xmas.

The gala is sober on some points: the riders (female and male) are extremely discreet (dark clothes and hats, and this will to focus and let the audience focus on the horses). Military discipline. Old school elegance. All the horses are bay or chestnut, with one or two exceptions. Same size, just as crazy horse dancers, for perfect choregraphies... The orchestra is good enough.

But it is art.

Those horses jump well - military tradition - but they also dance. They know so well Bizet's Carmen that they could certainly play it. They are supernatural. One could easily worship them.

   

 

 

"The creation of the French National Riding School was aimed at organizing the teaching of riding in France; its vocation to prepare for high level teaching diplomas and top level competition. Under the wing of the Minister for Health, Youth and Sport, the National Riding School is founded on the knowledge and experience of the ecuyers (Riding Masters) of the Cadre Noir who have rediscovered their ancestry at Saumur; with a mission to develop horse training, to teach riding for sport, and to teach the equestrian professions.  

All the teachers of the National Riding School are members of the Cadre Noir. The principal purpose of the ecuyers, each one a real expert in their own discipline, is to pass on their technical and theoretical knowledge. They also have to train and keep in condition the horses presented in the Reprise de Manège (Musical Ride), and those who perform the airs above the ground, as well as representing the school in national and international competitions. They are also entrusted with the preparation of the horses used in the training of their pupils.  

Taught by the great masters and with a great interest in the evolution of riding, the ecuyers of the Cadre Noir actively support and influence French equitation by their public presentations in France and abroad."

Draw, print, paint! Joan Beall & François Bouët in a studio, Nov.2014

Liminary:

When you look for the word "préliminaire", you discover that google search recognizes only one meaning for it, and turns the singular to the plural and fastly redirects you to Eve Ensler. Whilst you are looking for the difference between preliminary and liminary.

Liminary: Please note that the photographies that appear on this pages were taken on a rainy day darkened by thick clouds in a narrow street in two small rooms. Perspectives and colors are false. Not my fault.

François Bouët and Joan Beall are both professional artists and charming hosts. If you wish to thank me for those enlightnings insights on a serious cultural life, and for my remarkable english prose, you are welcome to send some ink on tracing paper or scratch drawing from Mr. Bouët, or some linocut (tree, fall) from Mrs. Beall.

François Bouët is born last century in the duchy of Uzès, and studied Arts in the roman city of Nîmes. Under the direction of the illustrious Claude Viallat, the Art school was strongly reorientated toward contemporary art. François Bouët was interested by graphism, communication. He left the school, watched around (on Robert Crumb's work, on the polish posters...), practiced intensively and worked. He plays music, too. He decided to focus on his artistic carreer some years ago. Thierry Arcaix qualified him in 2010 of Living local treasure and let's bet he isn't alone. François Bouët is multi-talented and special. He has presented works in the main public library, in an hotel, in a garage, in an independant cinema... each time, a different face of his work. To have an idea of the width ot his skills, you have to drop him a visit. A first look at his website isn't eloquent enough.

On his website you might still discover that he defines himself, modestly, as an illustrator. Also that he's part of a Collectif P.A.C.S. which has nothing to do with the pacte civil de solidarité (a legal instrument giving to un-maried people some of rights of the maried people), but promotes some "Projets Artistiques Clandestins & Solubles" - Reverso suffered but is now sure of its translation: Secret and soluble Artistic projects. They have a lovely slogan, calling to build a social network with other forms of life, even/especially those who don't come from outer space or from the 4rth dimension.

La vie, dans la mystérieuse turbidité de l’eau saumâtre

organise une communication à notre intention.

Oiseaux, reptiles, batraciens, échassiers, joncs,

moustiques,salicornes, graviers, flaques d’eau, etc, 

nous dépêchent un émissaire. 

La communication est encore timide,

brouillonne et approximative, énigmatique même

car leurs moyens sont limités et archaïques. 

Soyons malgré tout à l’écoute des autres co-locaterres....

No wonder if François Bouët is so mysteriously apt to reveal the virtualities of tree, a shade, or an animal. Some of his ink drawings look like images taken in a fotonovella: a couple of persons, thoughts on love/romance... but the presence of nature is so overwhelming that they look like disabled insects.

"Co-locaterres" is a wonderful imaginary word, meaning both co-eartlings and co-tenants. If you don't respect life you don't respect your life.

François Bouët invited Joan Beall.

This charming lady, born in Biarritz, might be mistaken with an honorable art professor from an english-language country... very professionnal, very technician, smiling as sweetly as a nice expat. The contrast between both artists might be surprising, yet it isn't. There is no war between figuration and abstraction, apparent simplicity and apparent meticulousness. His women are microscopic inhabitants of the world, her women are macroscopic mother-goddesses. She might be an artist, a chemist, a chaman, and this all together. A great teacher, too.

Gisèle Cazilhac

The south of France is the homeland of the Figuration libre (free style), art movement of the 1980ies, representated by Robert Combas, Hervé di Rosa, Rémi Blanchard, François Boisrond... Gisèle Cazilhac might have been associated to it if it had been opened to the women. She might have been too young, but she already painted. She always worked with energy, blasting colors, sense of humour, references to the modern culture (comics, street art, paint spray...). Largely out of the marked circuit, she follows her way.

Though Gisèle Cazilhac doesn't live from her painting, she is a professionnal artist. She studied arts, she always painted and her work has its own life. It evolved. Gisèle Cazilhac explored space by launching cars, planes, divers, swimmers. She dealt with the passage of time with multi-generational landscapes. She plays with perspective, orchestrating delicate intercrossings, adopting a view from above or from below. Amongst her better known subjects: people on the beach, swimmers, female divers in the sky, clotheslines, girls playing hopscotch, families, weddings.

The law on same-sex marriage (17 May 2013) inspired her variations on ancient wedding photographies: the "gais mariages". She kept the attitudes and postures, and changed the faces. She maried herself to a young Brigitte Bardot. On her "Noces de cuivres" (allusion to the copper wedding aniversary), faces are replaced by copper musical instruments.

When there her personages have faces, they are serene, at peace with the world, or even happily smiling. This isn't a naive, easy painting at all. This is a vibrantly passionnate painting, based on pleasure and communicating pleasure. A peaceful pleasure pure from guilt? On one of her "Amourades", she painted Snow White and the Queen ready for a luncheon on the grass, the naked Snow White, as the Eve of Lucas Cranach, proposes the apple to the Queen-Adam. Poisonned apple? Interesting way to solve the mother-daughter conflict: allowing women to innerly kill their mother or kill their inner mother. The interpretation is wide-open, of course.

A few articles, in french:
Fantasque Cazilhac, by Virginie Moreau
Gisèle Cazilhac épouse la cause du mariage à Montpellier, by Virginie Moreau
Gisèle Cazilhac, gais mariages (Jtduoff)
Gisèle Cazilhac, une vie d'artiste (La voie domitienne n°33, été 2000)
And a video

The 16th Briscarts

For the sixteenth time in about ten years, some local artists opened the doors of their workshops. The event is organized twice a year by the association of the Briscarts and usually lasts an evening (with a collective exhibition) and two days (Saturday-Sunday). Thirty-seven artists participated to the even this November's event. Bocaj and Seb. M didn't (first time for long). Bernard Lecointre has a too small and narrow place, people might break or leave with some of his works and he certainly doesn't need thieves nor vandals, his great ingenuity is limitated to artistical creation, he needs buyers...

I have written more specifically, and will write, about local artists. You are warmly invited to explore this blog! 

Enclos Tissié Sarrus

The opening exhibition, on Friday evening in the Salle Saint-Ravy, invites people to discover the universe of every artist through one selected work. One work is not enough in most of the cases, but it allows the visitors to  make a personal selection and plan their visit. It would be to stay in an artistically dense part of the city and ignore everything else, or to choose where to go following the colors of the doors. The amateurs wouldn't spot the professionnal and/or most interesting artists in this heterogeneous gathering. Tourists wouldn't find the lovely Atelier du singe vert (Nathalie Le Gall), hiding in a lovely private street, and they would miss a good exhibition.

Visitors would aim at the double addresses, and expect to dive everywhere in a bourgeois 19th century, as at the 34, rue Saint-Guilhem.

Monica Jacquin

Monica Jacquin

Christian Cabanes

Christian Cabanes

Christian Cabanes

Gisèle Cazilhac

Visitors might search Gisèle Cazilhac, if they know her from her collaborations (la Cabane Trempée...), posters for festivals, long presence in the place, or find her place unpurposedly: there is another opened studio in the same street, better advertised (posters, website, large glass door), while her place looks from outside like a garage. It would be a shame.

Fortunately, she has a "gallery": Mica, 36 rue Saint-Guilhem. This tiny shop, often only opened in the afternoon, sells local cheap and good art. Mica presents... Mica (pins, serigraphy, etc.), and for example Bertrand Lecointre, François Bouët, Gisèle Cazilhac. Modest arts? There is nothing naive there. Real personalities, real skills.

Joan Beall

Mica promotes artists who on their turn help pals. François Bouët invited Joan Beall, engraver working in the village of Octon, to share his workplace for an exhibition. They both promote engravers exhibitions...

François Bouët

For more classical tastes and color-lovers, the studio of Raphaël Ségura is rich enough... Former art teacher, M. Ségura paints, draws, illustrates books of poetry.

We missed time to visit the studios of the painters Christophe Aichelmann, Isabelle Marsala, Anne Jean-Joseph or the photographer Sylvie Huet (Débit de Beau... promoted, as for her, by the charming hostesses of Cubik): next time!

It would be quite nice also if Frédérique Dupuis could take part. No?