LETTERS/ Patti

 

PAINTINGS/ WOMAN FULL OF WORDS III - Super Villain

 last part of the tryptich (150 X 182cm)

LETTERS/ As if I could stop

 

LETTERS/ Venetian masks

 

POLAROIDS on my drawing desk

 

PAINTINGS/ Woman full of words II

second painting of the triptych, 181cm x 110cm, a.k.a. "venus de milo" or "madame diplomatique"

you will hear thunder and remember me, 

and think: she wanted storms. the rim 

of the sky will be the color of hard crimson, 

and your heart, as it was then, will be on fire.

 

LETTERS/ Makes the world disappear

 

BOOKS/ Modern Times - J.P. Sartre

“I'm going to smile, and my smile will sink down into your pupils, and heaven knows what it will become.” 

“Like all dreamers I confuse disenchantment with truth.”

“I am alone in the midst of these happy, reasonable voices. All these creatures spend their time explaining, realizing happily that they agree with each other. In Heaven's name, why is it so important to think the same things all together. ”

 ― Jean-Paul Sartre

PAINTING/ WOMAN I: Woman full of words

very big, 181 x 100 cm... I love the asymmetries of this one, the slightly distorted body, and all its imperfections. Almost everyone to whom I've shown it prefers "woman II" or "woman III" (both still unfinished), but this one is strangely very dear to me.

LETTERS/ On painting

 

POLAROIDS/ La Estudiantil is a temple

La Estudiantil has become my reference place at night this summer... conclusion of the evening: a zen mindset (absence of ego) is the death of the artist, an artist needs ego to dare

BOOKS/ Essays in Zen Buddhism

“What we call "I" is just a swinging door which moves when we inhale and when we exhale.” 

“In zazen, leave your front door and your back door open. Let thoughts come and go. Just don't serve them tea.”  

“Treat every moment as your last. It is not preparation for something else.”

 

― Shunryu Suzuki, Essays in Zen Buddhism

PAINTINGS/ Boone (171x120cm)

Boone is made of materials scavenged from the street: broken cardboard, acrylic, spray paint, oil pastels, wood bars... this one is 171 cm tall, big, big

(Basquiat and Warhol at Louis Vuitton are pure rage, everyone should see the exhibition if they can)

 

Publishing before my trip to Paris

Some time ago, a young Iranian film director living in Paris asked if I would provide her with 30 paintings and all my polaroids to use as props in a short film. Naturally, I agreed. Displayed here, with her blessing, is the trailer for that film. I'm sharing this in anticipation of my upcoming return to Paris. All the paintings and polaroids featured in the film are my creations. I've had the privilege of viewing the entire film, and it is simply breathtaking. I'll share it once I receive her go-ahead, I hope I’ll convince her (you know, she strives for perfection, but perfection is an elusive ideal, impossible to achieve). 

BOOKS/ Astragal

They call her the french Beat writer. She abandoned her studies at an early age, ending in prison, and died at 29. Patti Smith once said that reading this book changed her life, this book made her a poet. Bless them both. 

“You can't wash away overnight several years of clockwork routine and constant disassembling of self.” 

“I would like to stay like this, lazy, warm, in the silence where only our regular breathing can be heard, without ever having to make gestures, speak words which sell us out and betray us...”

― Albertine Sarrazin, Astragal

PAINTING/ heavy lies the head

(120cm x 120cm) cardboard over translucent pink metacrilate, the transparency makes it difficult to perceive, everything made from materials scavenged from the streets.

LETTER/ nothing is so fragile as the truth

BOOKS/ pic

 “My manners, abominable at times, can be sweet. As I grew older I became a drunk. Why? Because I like ecstasy of the mind. I'm a wretch. But I love, love.” 

― Jack Kerouac, Satori in Paris & Pic

LETTERS/ letter to my polaroid camera

Among all the Polaroid cameras I own, this one is my favorite, she has travelled from the 60s-70s to be here with me, who knows the things she has seen. I bought it second hand 10 years ago, she’s fragile and a beauty.

summer polaroid of a friend

 

a letter to myself

Summer conversations

It is rare that past loves become true friends. Cris has many theories about love and relationships... I recorded her giving me relationship advice in one of my "clandestine" videos. This was advice I never asked for, and with which I don't agree, but its originality is refreshing (please note we were having dinner on half of the table, the other half is full of paint, graffiti sprays, acrylics, canvas, I can't live like this anymore).