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Trying to capture the sense of Paris in a few days (or
anyplace for that matter) is admittedly futile but we do not live
forever and must therefore operate mostly on impressions. Paris
may have been a modern city at its height a hundred years ago but now,
to an outsider, it has a tremendous weight of history and
nostalgia. It must take months to get past that facade and into
the life of Paris so I won't pretend to present anything but what I
could glean on a short visit.
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For me there exists a
sort of ghost image of Paris of the late 1800s and early 1900s in the
narrow streets, cobblestones, and old architecture. Even stopping
to have a beer becomes a sort of homage to the drunken conversations of
famous artists, thinkers and writers of times gone by.
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Digging deeper, one
finds people rushing about in their busy Parisian lives amidst a huge
proportion of tourists. The Levis billboard is well
representative of modern life in general. It advertises, "Be
Original" but caries the not so subtle message "but not too
much". I found my experience of Paris was slightly different than
the average person but honestly I am still presented with the same
environment and have the same basic background as most everyone else so
how different can it be?
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Paris of the first few
visits is about its famous monuments and institutions. There are
so many of these that they could keep you occupied for months. Friends
who live in Paris say they rarely pay attention to them.
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The food is one aspect
that is shared by the newcomer and the long term resident alike.
Parisian fast food is handmade at the edge of the street in small shops
but must
compete in an atmosphere where there is a very high standard for
quality.
Familiar American style fast food also exists but is treated like just
one more variety of ethnic food.
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I went looking for
contemporary art and found a big outdoor art fair near the
Bastille. Hundreds of independent but accomplished artists showed
their wares in separate stalls one after another: slight variation of
styles, topics, medium; some sculpture, some interesting. All
pretty high quality but nothing
dramatically new. Out of respect for their
livelihood and because I was already
feeling the pressure
of their need to sell to survive, I didn't take pictures of the
art.
A medium sized painting started
at just over a hundred euros which is probably less than what one had
to pay to enter the fair. They advertised "artist-direct prices".
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My
wife's nephew told me that the place for really daring art was the
Tokyo
Palace Museum of Contemporary Art. We went on our last day in
Paris. This video installation
included four wall-sized images of people telling a fairy tale.
Each was in a different language all talking over each other. My
kids were having fun making shadows until the woman in the film got to
a graphic part of
the fairy tale and her head popped off and blood started spouting out
of her neck. "Come on honey, lets go see the exhibit next door."
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Popular culture
dominated the exhibits with two out of three being about the music
world.
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The kids had a good
time running through the pools of light and seemed to "get" the
installation better than the adults.
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So long into this trip
I was getting impatient to create myself and started playing with my
digital camera and the very low light levels.
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The bookstore at
the Tokyo Palace reflected its cutting edge ambition. The books
were about current artists, graffiti, and pop culture. The whole
place seemed as if it was being run by people under the age of
twenty. This utility panel was covered with pre-made graffiti
and advertisements for street artists.
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Some
skateboarders set up a rail and used the palace courtyard as a place to
practice. In the States they arrest you for this. Here it
was considered part of the atmosphere.
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The current vogue in
Europe may be to
create installations but they very quickly become remote from daily
life, art, even the "cutting edge" that they are trying so hard to
represent. The problem with any
kind of exhibition is that it is so exclusive that only the established
can really be accommodated. By the time you are established
you probably aren't on the cutting edge anymore. Youth worship.
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In the streets of
Paris though there are talented people from all walks of life that
perform in a much less formal way. This man carved
vegetables. He was incredible. I don't think he spoke
French any better than me and made a deep and prolonged bow anytime
anyone deposited a coin no matter what size. Most people didn't
return the bow or even stay
long enough to accept its entirety. It didn't seem to bother the
artist who went on carving.
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One Frenchman offered
to buy this crane but the carver just signaled to take it freely.
Every time the man offered some money the artist made the same gesture
of his pleasure to give it away. The value kept going up as the
Frenchman kept reaching into his pocket to try and decide what the work
was worth. The carver kept embellishing the piece until it is as
you see it here. The final offer was some 15 euros. The
Frenchman was sent on his way with his carrots carefully wetted and
wrapped in a plastic bag. He was embarrassed and did not stay to
accept the full
length of the bow either.
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The many tunnels of
the Metro are a favorite location for exhibitions. The paths to
the
trains are adorned with musicians, salesmen hocking Gucci
and Louis Vitton designer goods for bargain prices, and
occasionally gendarmes chasing them away for not having proper permits
to be begging. This
accordion player serenaded the busy travelers from the loading platform
but others played on the trains themselves.
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A lone musician is one
thing but here was a small orchestra. People stopped for this
one. It was surprising to me, as an American, to see how broad
the appeal
for classical music is here in Europe.
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This inscription reads:
All men create without knowing it
Like he breathes
But the artist feels himself create
His action engages all his being
His well-loved pain fortifies him
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