Shrimp fishing. The activity goes through the centuries. The format of the net too. One size for each age. It was a beautiful and windy morning. We were all together on this easter tide. You are there waiting for me down the dune to show me the biggest of your tiny takes. They will all end up together anyway, joyfully scalded towards the best of the apéritifs. Those tiny “crevettes grises”, you can swallow them whole. But there is also a luxury option: aligned on a toast buttered with fleur de sel.
Elena Iv-skaya was born in the Russian Far East, on the banks of the Amur River and close to the Chinese border. Model became a photographer by chance. Chance works in a remarkable way as you can check there. She lives today in the Reunion island.
This gifted composition master lets her colorful creativity explode in the middle of this lush island. She was there and kindly answered “yes” when I asked permission to take inspiration from one of her shots. Elena is a kind of florist of modern times. She composes. Selects her flowers with uncompromising precision. Collects models that find their place perfectly in her graphic bouquets. A casting of a crazy personality. Looks like their faces were drawn for her light. Flowers can fade. Elena’s models hatch under an caring lens.
The flower of this diptych is Sarah Akrour. Poolside eyes. Blond as sand.
From a flower to another. Even rarer. Oulimata Gallet. Mannequin sénégalaise hyper prometteuse. A senegalese model with high potential. Some shots from Elena with Oulimata are just fascinating. One of them inspired me a sketch while I was doodling in the plane.
I am now watching Elena, Sarah et Oulimata as three beautiful sources of inspiration.
Surface ripples are infinitely creative when it comes to drawing volutes of light. It’s part of the shows I’ll never get tired of watching. Like flames dancing. Like the clouds that melt, …
Those artists ripples were at work on a morning of August 2017. Somewhere in Amorgos
This is the story of a little study for a large canvas… that remained forgotten in a corner of my studio. While the large canvas was making its way to the gallery windows, she was secretely dreaming of becoming a finished painting. Years later, on a Sunday with canvas out of stock, she become the only available material for an urgent creation need.
The study for “Paradeisos” became “Renewal’. A splash in the face and here she was: refreshed, finished.
That’s not a national hymn. It’s a brotherhood hymn rather. She is my youngest sister. She holds her little Marcello in her arms. She lives in Marseille. That’s all. Well actually… that’s not totally all. The above mentionned Marseillaise is also a talented graphist and a great digital painter . Unbeatable when it comes to simplifying forms and colors.
The part of this painting I like most is the hand. Actually the shadow of the rings on the fingers. Fingers that hold the towel so tight to make sure the little guy will stay comfortable and safe. Quietly drying in the evening sun of La Clère after the last bath of the day.
Looking down: deep, dense blue of a moving beauty. Looking above: blinding bright, of a glowing beauty. Just like when we fly. This is Elvire, caught in a flight, in between two rocks of a magical spot in Amorgos. Flying over the big blue in the island of the Big Blue movie. Acrylic on canvas 100x70cm.
What will surfers read next summer? A Folio that will land in all good French book stores this week.. and might well be the novel of the season!
The title is adequate. But the writing seems to make the difference. Just check out all the critics of the blogueurs-dévoreurs-de-bouquin, read ELLE or ask the book stores who will be able to vote for it within the top ten of the prix des libraires . A partnership between Folio and Télérama.
The chosen cover for that book is a detail of my painting “Swell Sandra”, which was inspired by the great work of young Australian photographer, surfer and artist Kane Brown. The story of my encounter with Kane is ici.
Rebecca Lighieri, alias Emmanuelle Bayamack-Tam, delivers here a devastating thriller. Family disintegration. Far from the relaxed atmosphere that reigned on the Australian Sunshine Coast the evening when the image that inspired this painting was born. The surf and the foam are nevertheless the link between the two scenes. I like the idea that a surf night inspired a photographer, whose work inspired a painter, whose canvas inspired a publisher. Thank you Gallimard and Emmanuelle Bayamack-Tam. Good luck to “the boys of the summer”!
If you are lucky enough to be in Paris and want to see the original, it has been shown at OFI art en 2016 and actually acquired by OFI Mécénat. Visible by appointment in Paris (17th).
When beer history meet contemporary creativity. Happy to have a show in this amazing building. Old stables of the Amstel brewery, this beautiful place is now The Thinking Hut. A secret spot that hosts the best creative brains of Amsterdam . You can have a contemporary beer at their bar from 9am to 6pm until end march. Details here.
To make bubbles under water. Blow a little air. Allow the body to better stay at the bottom. And the eyes to better admire these mercury balls jostling up to the surface. It’s like blowing glass without being limited by the raw material. Actually, yes. The raw material here is the air. And we must go back in search before diving again.
