Sean Sobczak's light sculptures

For Halloween the Kwan Fong Gallery welcomed the beautiful light sculptures of Sean Sobczak. So the week before I went to Downtown LA to interview the artist. My cousin Stephanie was staying with us and she was happy to accompany me and be my co-pilot through the maze of LA freeways.
We were in for a treat. Walking into Sean's studio at the Brewery was like walking into a dream: huge luminescent multi-coloured larger than life sea-creatures welcoming us, seahorses everywhere, sea dragons, a jellyfish, a mermaid, a two-headed dragon, a spider, dragonflies. We entered a fairy-tale universe of pastel colours and soft shapes, the vibrant phastasmagoria of a child’s imagination. Check out his work on his website: http://www.sandmancreations.com/ and also on www.myspace.com/sandmancreations .
His inspiration comes mainly from the Burning Man Festival, an art festival in Nevada, on a dry lakebed, 3 hours outside of Reno. It is a city built by the participants, over 25.000 people. It is over-the-top massive art and impossible to describe. It is all about meeting people and participating.
Other than that they are things he loved as a child, like seahorses. " I really love seahorses, they really became an inspiration for me. I first went to the 2001 Burning Man and was so inspired. I wanted to bring something the next year. I only owned a hammer and a screwdriver. So I went to the hardware store and bought tools. I was 31 and realized I was a sculptor."

"I am working on an octopus right now. So I am spending time on YouTube working out its movement. They are stunning creatures. I look at things; try to get back in touch with the magic of seeing them for the first time.”
It was strange to leave the studio. The happy, childlike universe of Sean’s creatures had taken us back to when we were small. It was so lovely to be under the sea in an octopus’s garden in the shade...
My nephew Zak who wqas over here for Halloween is a real fan, he adored the two-headed dragon. Christine loved the multi-coloured worm; my favourite was the blue sea-dragon.

Last week the exhibition finished and Michael , Janet and I helped take the creatures back to the Brewery. How sad it was to see them leave.

Carmel Mission

Bon Slogan

photo envoyée par Stéphanie, gentille cousine du Canada.

Back from San Francisco

After the fires, the Santa Anna winds, the visits from Stephanie, Laurence and her friend ( why does every one came to visit at once?) Chistine, Eric and Zak arrived and we set off to San Francisco.
San Francisco was so cool, we only stayed for four days , far too short! After an eight hour's drive we arrived in the night. Now driving through SF in the night, that's a challenge.
Those lovely hills give so much charm to the City, but when you are trying to find your way through North Beach, you want to turn left and there is an uphill drive so sharp, you look through your windscreen and all you can see is tarmac? And if you turn right the slope is so steep you pray your brakes are good enough, especially if you have your familly in the car!!!

I am sure it is all right for those who live there, though. San Francisco was as cool as ever.... the best bookshop in the world: City Lights, haven of peace and coolness, where we felt the earthquake!! SF Moma, Museum of the Legion of Honor, Haight-Ashbury, the Golden Gate, wonderful Japanese Gardens! Chinatown!!!

Driving back we followed the Highway 1, the Pacific Coast Highway, Monterey, Carmel, Big Sur, Santa Barbara, all in three days!!!

Downtown Los Angeles vu du Getty Museum

The Santa Anna winds and the fires in Malibu

Last week we saw the strangest weather conditions we had ever seen. The santa Anna winds turned Thousand Oaks into this post-apocaliptic planet. The wind started blowing in the night and woke me up. Tree branches rattling against our window kept me awake for hours. The strenghth of the wind was of the kind that would knock my plants out so I went on the terrasse to rescue them and saw nature angry. Tree branches breaking, dust everywhere. How bizarre. I am used to the Mistral, which is a cold wind, which blows in the winter continuously for three, six, or nine days according to the legend, But this one is hot and blows in all directions. The following day a yellow cloud arrived and surrrounded us with more dust coming from the desert this time!!! and then the smell of smoke, and ashes falling on us. It was a Sunday so Stephen and I took a short walk towards the Hill Canyon, but we couldn't go very far, so much dust the visibility was limited. The sky was yellow and the sun had the most unbelievable colour, a blood red luminescent quality. The fire brigade was patrolling every so often.
"Passion weather" said Cyn. What a beautiful description of it.

The wind continued for about four days and the smell of the smoke too. The reports on tv were showing the situation in Malibu and around here, Filmore, in the valleys.

The Getty Museum and Weston

Everytime we go to the Getty Museum it is just an oasis of beauty in the midst of freeways and a huge megaloppolis... How a place this beautiful can have been dreamt by benefactor Paul Getty and architect Richard Meier amazes me. On a hilltop of Santa Monica, this white fortress stands halfway to the eternal blue sky, and the rest of Santa Monica, the Pacific ocean in the distance. Arranged around an atrium, the four buldings, the South, West, North and East wings, hold an unbelievable art collection from around the world.
We went a few times so far and once with, Cyn, who is a fabulous painter. We all loved Weston's photographs. and went again just for that. Black and white ideal pictures from his life in California, his voyages to Mexico, portraits, nudes. They feel so close, so alive!