SHARING WITH ME

As soon as I got back from the Canyons, I began sniffing around to see what was on in Paris. Laurent sent me over a photo of a sculpture. The man, Christophe Charbonnel was on at the Senat. It’s a lovely little space in the Luxembourg gardens which we have « visited » on quite a few occasions. Usually several artists are shown at the same time. It looked rather curious as a treatment in earth, plaster or bronze so off I went. Christophe Charbonnel started his career as a designer then in model making for the Walt Disney studios in Montreuil (an outer suburb of Paris). He began his sculpting in the 1960’s. His works are either really small and could be picked up (I guess) in one hand or absolutely gigantic. Heads, bodies, parts of the body, animals….they seemed to have a strength about them and even their « look » is proud. Orphée V in bronze The Unsubmissive - bronze Bust of a Chinese - bronze I can’t say that I liked the huge sculptures. In som...

It all started some two years ago. Jerome and Laurent had done a trip to the Canyons on the west coast of the US. The photos I saw left me quite breathless. Could anything be so beautiful - and to use the American word - awesome as this? But how could I go? All the organized trips I saw left me stone cold and didn’t even cover the number of miles or sites that they had seen. I needed someone to « second » me - another driver and someone who had the same enthusiasm as I did concerning such a trip. A week? Two weeks? Was it  easy to organize from Paris? My choice went to two very sweet men I had met a few years ago in Turkey. David and Frank. They were travelers and had already taken in Mexico this year during the school holidays. Both teachers and would be available in the months which were suitable for traveling in that part of the world. They were both very enthusiastic when I approached them about such a trip. That was back in January. Frank then set to and by Apri...