From ghosts to monsters and onto drugs. I was more than apprehensive when I went off to see «Sous Influence» («Under the Influence» at the Maison Rouge. Drugs of any kind frighten me - I guess in a way, any form of dependence frightens me. Could I divorce myself from the fact that many of the artists I was about to see had created under psychotropic drugs? I knew that the exhibition was to give a perception of the relationship between artists and psychotropics during the 20th century to the present day. Artists have frequently used such «artifices» in the research of new experiences in the hope that they would trigger off a richer form of creativity. Fortunately not all artists are concerned. I was told that an artist is not a drug addict like a real one as the reason for taking such stuff meant he could transfert his visions into new images. But how many of them killed themselves in the process?
It was below 0° when I walked over to the Maison Rouge - a couple of kilometres away and yet when I arrived I was feeling very warm and a little apprehensive....
There was nothing to fear about the entry to this exhibition - a long sober all white hanging corridor....but it felt as if it was moving. Was this the entrance into a world which upsets me?
I am not going to list all the artists. Many of them we know and many of the contemporary I have heard of but know little of their work. There were over 100 artists and some 250 works. The first thing I see is a reflection of Picasso....
«The smell of Opium is the least stupid in the world»
Really? But when does a drug take over the creative process? When does creativity lead the artist to the gates of hell? As far as I know, Picasso never used any form of drugs unless you can describe alcohol and cigarettes as such.
I was beginning to feel uncomfortable. And the first paintings I saw didn’t make me feel any better. I walked on. Then I came across Hans Bellmer (1902-1975) We all know him for his dolls and his Dada creations which I don’t like anyway but this - this was something very different.
He instigated a series of drawings for one of Baudelaire’s works (1824-1867) «Artificial Paradises» which in actual fact was never published. Mme Dambrin-Sans who had financed the book was killed in a car accident so the book was only launched in a very limited edition with 9 drawings. Women. Sometimes very suggestive, sometimes Monsters. Baudelaire wrote this text about the state of being under the influence of opium and hashish. and describes the effects of the drugs and discusses the way in which they could theoretically aid mankind in reaching an "ideal" world. Aieee!
One of the paragraphs really marked me about wine. A rough translation of a few lines for you.....
"Isn’t reasonable to think that people who do not drink wine, naives or systematically, are imbeciles or hypocrites........a man who only drinks water has a secret which he is trying to hide from his fellow men.....»
Well, I gave up drinking wine a couple of years ago and am now on cider or champagne....where does that leave me, I wondered?
If perhaps you divorce yourself from the idea why these drawings have been done, then I find some of them - and especially for Hans Bellmer quite beautiful.
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| La Pauvre Anne -1968 |
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| Les deux amies -1968 |
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| Children and death -1969 |
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| Tetes transparentes 1932 |
The next painting I really stopped to look at was by Francis Picabia.(1879-1953) The faces seem to move - was it a menace? The picture drew me back several times. I still don’t have the answer.
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| Tetes en Pipes d'opium - no date |
Jean Cocteau (1889-1963) was an opium
addict. The photographs of him under the influence left me trembling and
then some of his drawing once again were quite beautiful. Did I find
them the same now I knew he did these under the influence of opium? I
still did.
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| No title or date |
Bernard Saby (1925-1975)I did not know. He worked closely with Henri Michaux (1879-1984)and once again painted under the influence of some hallucinogen - looking at this painting I felt as if I was diving into colour....especially with the yellow centered in the middle.
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Ecstasy by Simeon O’Marshall, was a poster......
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| 1988 |
Jean-Michel Basquiat’s (1960- 1988)
work under drugs did not tempt me to look too closely and yet his wooden
shoes made me smile.
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| Emissary from the Firest, 2009 |
But Takashi Murakami (1963) came as a
surprise. I certainly did not know that this artist that I admire so
much worked (and still?) under methamphetamine - but now I look at this
emblematic figure with the mushrooms done in 2009, the question I ask of
course, does he still.......?
Then of course there is Yayoi Kusama (1929)- I wrote a chapter on her work after the exhibition I saw at Beaubourg last year. Dots Obsession and she is obsessed by dots - even today. It didn’t matter where I looked I saw myself. I entered her world of dots.
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| Infinity - Mirroired Room -1998 |
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| Infinity - Mirroired Room -1998 |
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| Infinity - Mirroired Room -1998 |
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The work showing photos of artists badly under the influence, needles, pretend drugs and you name it, it was there - did this really have to be included in the exhibition.The visitors I saw there were for the most, in their 20's.... Could such images influence young and not so stable artists? I sincerely hope not. But I left that exhibition in a state of panic. Yet I do know that quite a few of the pictures I enjoyed but not under the title «Under the Influence».
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