SHARING WITH ME

I thought that I would be really handicapped with this - for peeling potatoes, I am. Who cares about that? but even if the photos are slightly crooked and that can be rectified, it seems that taking them, is feasible. Once again walking back from a luncheon, I saw this. Another new artist. Yes, yes, Squiggles you say or even tortured  lines?  Perhaps, but not for me. I see faces and figures all over the place. I could add too that Frédéric Dardel is a very nice looking man. He's young, 43 and divides his time between France and South Africa. It's not clear why he chose what he termed as a "captivating" country as 20 odd years ago when he arrived, it was probably not as easy to live in as it is today. His paintings certainly display a double culture. They can be chaotic as if he is searching for a new identity. His universe oscillates between figurati

Jack Lang (75 years) was our cultural Minister under a couple of socialist governments. I always admired him and perhaps even more so today, as you will see. Apart from changing the contemporary art scene in France, he also helped theatrical creators, developed new cultural events such as the "Fête de la Musique", 1982, "Patrimony days and open visits" in 1984, the "Cinema festival" in 1985 and the "Desire to read" in 1989. Along with all this,  he put into place more than 20 contemporary art centres, acquired some fabulous paintings (Pierre Soulages, Pierre Aelchinsky, Daniel Buren just to name a few) and helped young designers such as Philippe Starck and others. From my point of view he was a very outright and forth going Minister. I happened to sit next to him at the Theatre some months ago and was disappointed that he looked bored and left at interval! He was named President of the Arab Institute not so long ago. I went along to the exhibitio