Adieu, nasty little gargoyle...

Basilique Notre-Dame-de l'Epine - Chalons en Champagne

Went off for a change of scenery to forget the incessant rain (well that didn't exactly work out to plan, but it did feel like a different type of rain at least) and more importantly to take my mind off a nasty little blight that has plagued our lives for the past two years. The Noisy Neighbour Downstairs...

There are no known cures to this illness, apart from surgical removal, but as that hasn't been an option, we have all had to grin and bear it.

Symptoms in the sufferer include sleepness nights, irritability and intolerance to excess of any form. Attempts to alleviate these vexing manifestations have involved several calls to the police, many letters of complaint to the housing agency and several less-than-neighbourly verbal exchanges... all to no avail!!!

The show must go on, and so it has over the long months... As we've only been here two years, the suffering is minimal compared to that of the other neighbours who have had to endure this for even longer! This ghastly little gargoyle seems to hang over our lives, ready to disrupt the calm at any moment.

The cause of so many frayed nerves and shattered sleep patterns is literally a creature of the night. This being has a typically nocturnal existence, sleeping through most of the day, though can be espied on the terrasses of the local bars from apéritif time, cigarette poised between lips or yellowing fingers, a glass of alcohol at the ready.

As a creature attracted to species demonstrating similar behavioural patterns, he will readily invite fellow night-time beasts back to his smoke-ridden lair before and after visits to his watering holes and associated gathering places.

Unfortunately, this burrow is below ours, so whether we like or not, we end up aware of all the movements, habits and natural instincts of this singularly selfish, unattractive being. Although drawn to social groupings with others of his type, he shows little but disregard and disrespect for any other living creature, although he will try his Gallic 'charm' on any unsuspecting female of any species. He certainly spends enough time banging around in the bathroom, presumably preening and gurning in the mirror.

An apparently innate attachment to alcohol and tobacco has made his appearance raddled and wizened, while his relatively advanced years (60 - ie old enough to know better!) have not bestowed him any wisdom. A quiet evening of reflection would be beyond him - unless perhaps accompanied by his music. The music... no, I won't even go there....

So, it was with disbelief and great excitement that we all learnt that this unusual, yet wholly unwanted specimen was to leave the house that he has dominated over the years. It all seemed too good to be true...

Well, it is true, but is more a case of  'Don't hold your breath'. Having moved out virtually all his possessions from his warren below - mostly during the night - he now can be heard here day and night.

The nocturnal noise of music, loud conversations,stomping shoes on wooden parquet, slammed doors, windows and cupboards is nothing new, but the resonance is amplified in an empty space without furnishings. Apparently this strange creature is currently presenting signs of an impulsive cleaning instinct, which is insatiable. Perhaps this would explain why the beast in question has decided to keep on his empty dwelling place until...... August!!!

So I dedicate the photo above to this animal, whose unendearing lifestyle habits we have been fully exposed to over the past two years, in a very unsymbiotic relationship.
The photo below is to render us calm and collected in order to endure the next two months, and above all, to help me hold back the burning desire to wring that scrawny creature's neck!!!
I trust he will find the neighbours he fully deserves in his future abode... Adieu gargoyle!

Purple and Green - And a Great Day for Ducks...

Well, it hasn't stopped raining for two days now... While everybody is looking sullen and sun-deprived, everything is looking soggy and everywhere is simply sodden, I try to say to myself what I always used to rattle off to the children when they were small: "It's a great day for ducks"...

 

 After all, everything is very green... But all the things that are normally airborne now look too wet to fly...

Damp dandelion clock

 I am beginning to wonder if even our feathered friends can also have just too much of the wet stuff, and perhaps want to escape from it all like the rest of us...

A solitary survivor.

The weather forecast for the next week isn't good, for man or beast alike! The last time I saw real sunshine was a few weeks ago, during a brief trip to England.

Clematis

That should dispel any illusion that the conditions on the Continent are any better than those in Britain - and I'd say that this year the grass is literally very green on both sides of the Channel.

A duck drying out...

However I do also keep coming across the colour purple, or rather shades of lilac... mostly with raindrops... From the elegant irises, the majestic jacaranda trees, dense wisteria draping down walls and trellises and the unassuming lilac bushes....

Jacaranda tree, just outside my place of work...

Many of these smell beautiful, but only if you haven't got your nose, or beak, tucked away from the cold...

Double trouble...

So, all in all, there are still many things to be found and admired, on condition that you have an umbrella and in my case at the moment, a good pair of wellies!

Wisteria

Even the larger birds seem to follow the more humble ones...

A regal swan 

 Preened plumage, delicated arranged...

Blackthorn (I think)...

 Belonging to resident birds or visiting ones...

Canadian goose

The ruffled feathers of some of the birds look a little like petals themselves...

Iris

These all are spread out as the birds cluster together in strange formations...

A pyjama party

The plumage looks so soft that I want to touch it. And the colours so subtle, like some of the foliage and flowers around at present.

Lilac

And then of course you will get those brazen birds who just have no discretion whatsoever, come rain or shine, but just look at those feathers...

A cock-sure starling!

Invisible Light in Paris... Lumière Invisible...

As the sunshine is still making itself rare, I decided to catch a glimpse of another type of invisible luminosity in Paris yesterday. This was in fact the exhibition Lumière Invisible, currently held at the Institut du Monde Arabe, not far from my favourite place, Le Jardin des Plantes.

Just in front of the imposing main I.M.A building is a strange white futuristic 'blob' that houses the exhibits - in this case large metallic sculptures that bring together painting and three-dimensional constructions and Western and Eastern culture, aesthetics and art forms. This aim is shared by the institute itself, whose cultural mission is to enhance the exchange between France and the League of Arab nations.
Designed by Jean Nouvel, the building was inaugurated in 1987, winning the Aga Khan award for Architecture, and earning the nickname 'the Arab Beaubourg' in the process, due to adventurous design and features that recall the ambitious spirit of the Centre Georges Pompidou. 

One particularity of the façade are the photo-sensitive metallic panes behind the glass. These form a geometric patchwork design that act as an elaborate sun shield, with the central apertures contracting and dilating according to the intensity of light and heat generated by the sun. 

The depth of the sculpture is revealed by the glow...

 Needless to say, these haven't been over-exerted for some time, in view of the grey skies above! In fact these sophisticated panels are a reference back to traditional oriel windows, the Mashrabiya or Shanasheel whose intricate lattice woodwork, and stained glass offered protection from harsh sunlight.

One of the three light columns...

 Lumière Invisible is a collection of seventeen sculptures, the result of the meeting of minds between the sculptor Mehdi Qotbi, and painter, Yahya. Both artists are of Moroccan descent, yet neither have made these origins their sole defining cultural reference point, but seem to have used these as a springboard to reach far beyond. 

This large sphere is actually enormous...

Sharing a similar aesthetic viewpoint, Qotbi and Yahya stress how this art has resulted from their unusual alliance; two-dimensional art expressed in the three-dimensional. As they say, their constructions belong "neither to the East, nor the West" but are simply expressions of art, and as such are not confined to any cultural limitation. 

'Bird' motives...

Like the light that plays with the sculptures and pours over and through their forms, the aesthetics of this union between painter/sculptor defuse the metal with a unique warmth and life. 




The calligraphy and motives form, quite literally, the basis of the sculptures. However, these are not texts with a specific meaning to be read.

 Qotbi, painter inspired by the traditional calligraphy of Islamic art has used the intricate arabesque forms to explore beyond the sense of the words and signs in order to create an abstract language of decorative art.

 The forms that I thought looked like little birds, in a kaleidoscope design, could in fact be no more than that or perhaps far more. These forms have no particular linguistic mission, but this means that the sculptures can 'speak'. to us more openly. None of the works on display were given titles, so the pieces were not fixed representations, nor were they confined to a specific interpretation set by their authors. Yahya the sculptor does not actually speak Arabic, but this has not restricted him in his art; on the contrary. 

Born in the UK to a Jewish Moroccan father and Christian Anglo- German mother, converting to Islam as an adult, Yahya has not been bound by. nationality, religion or culture. Through his work, he transcends barriers and transmits the message that art brings people together, leading them beyond themselves, as a guiding light, to the absolute. Inspired by the play of light on metal and glass that he saw in art work in Morocco, he has explored the potential of metalwork in all its forms.

 





 Qotbi follows the same theme, as he talks of the light within us all, a form of wisdom to which we must aspire and communicate to others. This vital luminosity glows inside us, yet its source remains invisible. 
The pieces of Lumière Invisible interlace the work of sculptor and painter, but also called on the skills of many other craftsmen, who from steel, brass, bronze and copper drew a light, luminous art over a period of six years. There was no explanation to the material realisation of the works, but this reinforced their magic.

The sculptures are suspended on walls, or appear to float in front of us, like spun metal, embroidered lettering and tracery, delicate and massive at the same time. 

I felt the same sense of puzzlement as I did when eating a Cadbury's Flake as a child - how exactly did they make this ruffled chocolate?

How was the metal cut in such depth? How was it soldered together, and shaped?












Well, it's raining again today, it literally hasn't stopped - invisible light, indeed!!! Everything is very green however...

Play of light reflections and shadow...