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PARIS ~ vol. quatre
Okay....drum roll please.....
HAPPY BIRTHDAY FRANCE! I sit here drinking my morning coffee (the most amazing Ethiopian coffee) and enjoying a bowl of cereal and for some reason I got to thinking about the strange experience of my arrival at Charles de Gaulle airport. What I found very strange and perhaps disturbing was large format ( 5' x 6') backlit full colour advertisement boxes all through the terminal for Raytheon. For those of you not in the know Ratheon manufacturers all manner of "bunker-buster" deep penetration bombs, their own line of so-called smart bombs and of course a full range of intelligent ground to air munitions designed to.....take down aircraft. Is it me or is this a strange place for this type of add? Ah well, I digress...suffice it to say that when I thought of those ads all of a sudden a flight of Dassault Mirage III jet fighters of the French Air Force streaked low along the Seine in observation of......BASTILLE DAY, so a BIG happy birthday to this beautiful land populated by such intriguing folk! Thank god for the French....after all according to Bill Maher they invented none other than....the tongue and sex in the afternoon!! And where would we be without either of those eh?
What followed was an amazing fly-by of the French Air Force ranging from their bombers, fighters, trainers, attack helicopters, transport craft etc. It was quite amazing to hear my studio shake with the vibration of these machines.
SOUND-SCULPTURE IS FINALLY COMPLETE! Also, in Honour of the French day of independence here is the "sound-sculpture" I've assembled. Really, it is simply a series of recorded samples of the things I heard on my daily walks. In order you'll hear:
~ the quintessential european police vehicle siren ~ a fellow playing his accordian after getting on our subway car ~ an air-raid siren being tested ~ an absolutely crazy looking woman with one foot missing sitting outside of the Pompidou Centre sawing madly on a strange fiddle like instrument. She never played songs, just the furious sawing back and forth that you hear ~ a middle eastern guy of what appeared to be Turkish background playing an Oud ~ a couple of lads jamming on some Djangoesque Hot Club de Paris type stuff ~ a guy that looked EXACTLY like Willie Dixon plunking on a big ol' stand up bass and singing ~ a guy playing some dobro on one of the bridges ~ the bells chiming outside my studio window ~ and finally and most suitably a little old guy squeezing out the sweet strains of that classic old French song La Vie on Rose. It sounded so sweet walking by the guy, lovers were standing near him cooing and preening like doves. Magic.
The file is HERE. It is also biggish so you may want to right click and download it then play it. If you are packing big high-speed than by all means try streaming it. Oh yeah, enjoy the sweet and sometimes strange sounds of Paris.
PHOTOS OF THE STUDIO, BUILDING AND SURROUNDING ENVIRONS...oh yes....and some drawings! As I have now topped my creative gas tank to overflow I am now focused on making art, and will continue until my wife Lisa's arrival in 40 hours. Of course, I'm thinking more than doing as the studio and the nature of my work (oilsticks would not dry in time for shipment home) make my normal practices impossible. However, I took the opportunity to change things up and step back a bit into a medium I worked with profusely in my high-school and university years.....ink drawings using brushes and pens and nibs. Below are a number of pics of the interior of my cosy little studio I've nick-named....of course.....Studio Arnois, the Cite Internationale des Arts facility where the studio is located and some of the environs. I am very happy with the drawings so far, but somewhat reticent about posting photos of them. Over the years I've had plenty of experiences with "new" things that percolate into the work that I really like then after 3 or 4 days cannot stand and prompty relegate to the "bin". But what the heck....I'll post pictures of the four drawings that came out of last nights run. Enjoy.....or not!
View of my sleeping quarters, and computer desk
View of my kitchenette
View of my workspace. As you can see things are pretty tight. This particular room was probably laid out with a writer in mind. However, I am used to making tight spaces work.
View out of my workspace window
Another view of the tight little work space.
The door to my studio seen between the banister bars of this ancient stairwell.
View down the stairwell. As you can see the building is quite ancient, couple hundred years old I imagine. The Cite is a facility featuring a number of annexes, of which some of the buildins are "new" (built in the 1960s) and others varying in age.
Although the studios are in excellent working condition and quite modern, it is interesting to see the contrast with the interior stairwell and the exterior of the building as you will see below.
Beautiful ancient stonework in the foyer of the entry to my studio building.
Cobblestone courtyard outside the front door of the studio building.
Passageway through the inner area of the studio annex I am located in.
Entry gate to the annex my studio is located in.
And below are some quick shots of the four drawings done last night. You'll see they are quite different from my current work in some ways. However, those of you familiar with my activities across the arc of my career will perhaps remember a few things from way back when in University percolating through these drawings. They are all approximately 16" x 22", executed with ink, brushes and nibbed pens. They are also on white stonehenge, blue pescia, and brown BFK paper. I've become interested in working on coloured surfaces of late and felt this would be the right time to push in that direction. Bear in mind that the lighting in the studio is definitely not good for taking good shots of art. However, the results are more or less representative.
Detail of the preceding photo
Detail of preceding photo.
Detail of preceding photo.
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