Art and Wine in Provence

If you are in the Luberon Valley in Provence and tire of the myriad hill towns and lavender fields (I know, it's hard to get tired of that, but just try and use your imagination), there is an exciting new and relatively unknown art project going on in the region of Aix-en-Provence at a property called Chateau La Coste.

It is, first and foremost, a 250 acre winery tucked in between forests of oaks, fields of almonds and wildflowers. But in 2004, an idea was born to create a place where art, architecture and landscape came together. Artists and architects from all over the world were invited to visit Chateau La Coste and  then encouraged to choose a place that "spoke directly to them" where they could create something that would live there.

The list of names who finally participated is impressive: Tadao Ando built the Arts Centre and welcoming point for visitors. Jean Nouvel designed the wine making cellar and Gehry and Partners built the music pavilion. Artists whose sculptures are dotted around the landscape include Richard Serra, Alexander Calder, Paul Matisse and a surprise entry from Michael Stipe of REM fame!

It is a wonderful project and definitely worth scoping out. The best thing is it really jolts your point of reference because for most of us, Provence is all about ancient hill towns, fields of lavender and poppies, and men in berets playing boules under huge plane trees. But suddenly, this image is disrupted with a more contemporary version of Provence today.

There is a mapped walk you can do to see each piece in its environment. And at the end of a couple of hours of wandering, you return to Ando's streamlined building to eat a heavenly lunch overlooking the vineyards.

To set the scene

Rolling hills of vines, olives and oaks

The clean lines of Tadao Ando's Welcome building

Louise Bourgeois

Alexander Calder

More Tadao Ando

Richard Serra

Liam Gillick

Tom Shannon

Chapel: Tadao Ando, Croix: Jean-Michel Othoniel

View from inside the chapel

Michael Stipe

Mural Mural on the Wall

Agrarian Leader, Zapata

For those of you who are interested in the ongoing relationship struggle between Mexico and the US, you must see a wondrous exhibition on at MOMA that focuses on Mexican artist Diego Rivera's murals, including fascinating correspondence between Rivera and Rockefeller Jr about his infamous mural for the Rockefeller Centre.

Rivera never hid his disdain for capitalism or fervent love of the Communist ideal. He and his wife the incredibly beautiful and talented Frida Kahlo, were always leading workers' demonstrations in Mexico and decrying US expansionism in Latin America. And yet the United States, ever the capitalist pinup child despite the Depression, remained fascinated by this ugly mammoth of a man and his art.  Interestingly, MOMA's second-ever exhibition focused on Rivera in 1931/32 and it had the highest attendance of any recorded exhibition until that time.

MOMA brought Rivera to New York 6 weeks before the exhibition and set him up in a massive space to create murals without walls. Rivera produced five "portable murals" depicting Mexican life, class inequality and revolution.  He then added an additional three murals about the Depression-era New York. This is the first time in 80 years that all eight murals have been reunited.

Indian Warrior

The Uprising

Electric Power

Frozen Assets

But the part that interested me the most was the fractured relationship between Rivera and the Rockefeller family. Abby Aldrich Rockefeller was actually one of the founders of MOMA and a pivotal player in getting Rivera to New York in the first place. In 1933, John D. Rockefeller Jr commissioned Rivera to create a mural for his work-in-progress Rockefeller Centre. The story goes that both Matisse and Picasso were both approached about creating a public work of art before Rivera was. Matisse declined and Picasso never replied! 

Rivera did a sketch of what he wanted to create, Man at the Crossroads, which was to depict the social,  political, industrial and scientific possibilities of the twentieth century. But what he painted was very different to the sketch. He decided to include a portrait of Lenin on one side and a martini-swilling Rockefeller partying with a prostitute on the other side. Given this was the era of Prohibition in the US and the cult of Stalin in Russia, The controversy of it all proved too much for the Rockefeller family and one of the strangest patron-artist relationships came to an end.

How the rest of this story played out is showcased in some wonderful letters. There is the very polite request from Nelson Rockefeller to "substitute the face of some unknown man where Lenin's face now appears," whilst still remaining "enthusiastic" about the work Rivera was doing. "The piece is beautifully painted, but it....might very easily seriously offend a great many people."

Even the lawyer's letter is polite, if not to the point. "We cannot but feel that you have taken advantage of the situation to do things that were never contemplated by either of us at the time our contract was made. We feel, therefore, that there should be no hesitation on your part to make such changes as are necessary...."

Of course, history shows us that Rivera refused to comply and ultimately, the mural was removed and destroyed.

Mural covered with canvas, May 1933

Rivera called this "cultural vandalism" and promptly re-created the mural in Mexico city with the funds he had received from the Rockefeller commission.

images: (1-5, 11) moma, (6) this cultural christian, (7) flickr, (8-10) mine taken at moma

Modigliani, Suicide, Rue Amyot & More

Modigliani; portrait of Jeanne Hebuterne

Do you ever feel there are times when all the crisscrossed paths of life meet at an intersection that make you stop and say, "Isn't life amazing!" That happened to me in Paris last week.

I was wandering through the 5th arrondisement getting deliberately lost as always in this city, to see new things and hopefully be surprised. I was surprised when I suddenly found myself in Rue Amyot and thought I recognised the name from somewhere. I then remembered it was mentioned in a book I had recently read called Never Any End to Paris, by Spanish author Enrique Vila-Matas. According to this work of fiction, Modigliani's lover and artist, Jeanne Hebuterne, killed herself in this street by hurling herself out of the fifth floor window of her parents' apartment. Perhaps as some sort of statement or cry of desperation, she did this the day after Modigliani died.  Jeanne was 8 months pregnant with Modigliani's second child. And the building number was also 8.

I was so intrigued as to whether this was indeed fact or fiction, I did some research. And sure enough, the address and unfortunate end to Heberturne are both historically correct. So my pull to the street and building took on a more macabre face. How could such a young woman be so desperately unhappy that she would want to leave this world so soon and in such a violent way? Modigliani must have been one hell of a lover.

The strange thing is the building is still there in an innocuous street in the Latin Quarter, but there is no plaque, no physical memory of this woman or her fateful end at this site. It's as if she never existed.

I have always been a massive fan of Modigliani's, spending hours poring over the slender necks of his painted women wondering how I could make my neck look as graceful. But I knew nothing of this mysterious woman who killed herself aged nineteen, leaving behind a first daughter (who happens to still be alive). Apparently, Hebuterne was an artist in her own right, always overlooked in favor of her Italian lover.

Self Portrait

Portrait of Modigliani

She was also very beautiful.

No wonder "Modi" made her his muse.

As I stood at the bottom of building number 8 looking up to the fifth floor, I tried to imagine what Jeanne was thinking about before she opened that window. Was it a sunny day? Was she apologizing to her unborn child? Were her parents trying to wrench her away from the window?  We will never know. We can only look on and imagine. And I can thank life for leading me to that place and bringing her into my world.

images: (1) my studios, (2-6) mine, (6) no solo arte, (6) mermaids drown, (7) artmodel (8-9) wordpress, (10), painting mania, (11) art print on demand, (12,13) modigliani foundation

Gondwanaland in Paris

I was in Paris last week. I went for an early morning weekend stroll through the first arrondissement and was suddenly struck by a familiar but disconnected sight. Was that really the Aboriginal flag flying in a Parisian street? What on earth is it doing there?!

It turns out it belongs to Gallery Yapa, at number 18 rue Saint Roch near the Tuileries. It is apparently one of a handful of galleries that specializes in indigenous Australian art for well-heeled parisians.

I've always believed that everything looks better for some reason in Paris. But in this case, I think the red, black and yellow somehow looks more at home in the aussie outback.

McQueen McCool

I was wandering aimlessly through the Marais in Paris a few weeks ago and stumbled upon this wonderful photography exhibition of Steve McQueen at La Galerie de L'Instant. It's an amazing photographic gallery that just finished showing an exhibition on Kate Moss.

I think I have only ever seen one of McQueen's movies - The Great Escape - and I know he was hot and all that, but he was never one of my pin up boys. I was more into David Bowie androgyny than the muscular and rugged American acting hero. But I have to say these photos literally stopped me in my afternoon reverie and coaxed me into the galerie for a closer look.

Taken by John Dominis in 1963 for Life Magazine at McQueen's home in Palm Springs, these photos truly capture McQueen's sexy-sure cool even before he was the icon he became. Apparently this is the first time the photographs have been shown in a galerie. If you are in Paris before December 11th, it is worth taking a look.

If you can't get to Paris, try and find the book "Action" that has been published in conjunction with this exhibition. Nothing like going to bed with Mr McCool on your bedside table!

All images: John Dominis from galerie de l'instant