5/9/2011 Rémi Maillard, lacquer artistI simply love it when I unexpectedly stumble upon something beautiful, fascinating and inspiring. Approximately 15 mn walk from my parents' house, one can find a pretty majestuous water tower, built in 1865; it had been standing empty since 1940 when, in 1999, it was refurbished by the city council and opened as a contemporary art gallery. For the whole of September, the gallery is hosting an exhibition of the work of the lacquer artist Rémi Maillard, a former fashion designer now based in Nancay, in the Sologne region of France. There, he has his very own gallery/shop as well as his workshop: ARTSETDECO Inside the water tower, some of Rémi Maillard's most impressive works adorn the thick stone walls. As soon as you enter, you are confronted by the artist's astonishing work. There are two sides to Rémi Maillard's work. We first see the result of the artist's work: his artworks - sculptures, large bowls, large decorative panels, screens, triptychs - are among the most beautiful things I have ever seen: they are multi-layered and ornate, shiny, with lavish colours, rich and precious materials; they are incredibly complex works of art, at the same time dense and transparent, delicate and incredibly strong. The works carry poetry, mystery, imagination, lyricism, and are completely timeless, suspended in mid-air between the real world in which they have been created and another otherwordly universe we can only touch with the tip of our fingers - and our marveled eyes. A fascinating film is also shown as part of the exhibition; it shows the artist at work, and what work! The video reveals the painstaking and laborious endeavour that is the creation of a work of art made of lacquer. Rémi Maillard is inspired by traditional Asian methods - he has travelled extensively throughout the region - and uses ancestral know-how and expertise. Lucky you, it is online and you can see it here (it is in French, but you can still follow the process and see some of the works, which makes it all so very much worth it!): REMI MAILLARD L'AME DU LACQUE Rémi Maillard continues in the path of the celebrated Jean Dunand, who is considered as the greatest lacquer artist of the Art Deco period, and whose son and successor as maître lacqueur he had met. For the francophones and francophiles among you, here is a more detailed résumé of the artist's biography and inspiration: Magical and awe-inspiring.
2/9/2011 AthleticsI have been watching a little bit of the World Athletics Championship (taking place in Daegu, South Korea) for the first time in about 20 years!
I am not being sexist, but: the female athletes are all staggeringly beautiful and as hard as nails. They are modern day amazons. Great, great women! I could do without the cringeworthy French commentators, though. What a bunch of arses. Also, a lot of the French athletes have a ridiculous attitude: they are incredibly bad losers, and are always finding excuses for not winning Gold, as is their birth right just for being French. Idiots. 1/9/2011 Reading...I have two books on the go now: Christopher Fowler's Ten-second staircase (I started it on the Eurostar yesterday and was probably the happiest passenger on there, smiling to myself and chuckling my way to Paris; it looks very promising, the usual wonderful mixture of delicious wit, London urban grittiness and overflowing inventiveness... This time, the author is tackling the bonkers and often sinister world of contemporary art, with celebrity shock artists a-gogo (the murder victim has quite a lot in common with the insufferable and overrated Tracey Emin). But I am in France at the moment and I thought that it would be appropriate to put my English reading to one side and to switch to something in French. I raided my parents' library and found this: S.A Steeman is a Belgian author and he wrote this book in 1937; the French language is deliciouly old fashioned - I can revise my French past tenses, especially the now relatively ignored "passé simple" (preterit in English I think).
So Silas Lord's hero is Sherlock Holmes, but he is even better than the English Victorian detective! Let see what this book has got in store for me... There is a short biography of the author here: SA Steeman |
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March 2024
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