Dani’s Blog

Mariana and Fabian getting ready to mount Yuyo's canvas in his studio in Central Park, Barracas, Buenos Aires.

I’m feeling nostalgic tonight.
It’s almost midnight in Buenos Aires.
I’m in Paris.

My cheeks are still chilled from the walk home along the frigid Canal St Martin.

It’s hot and muggy down in BA and there will probably soon be a downpour.

One year ago today I watched a huge canvas being put onto an 11-by-3 meter frame in a studio in my neighborhood in Barracas, BA. Yuyo (Luis Felipe Noe) would soon start assembling his work for the Venice Biennale, a process I would continue photographing for three months in Argentina, plus another two weeks in Venice.

Today was day one.

I was looking at those brown doors last night, remembering their old red, yellow and purple and thought, when are we going to paint them?

A little while later, while contemplating my collage in the 4th floor hallway, Gaki walked by holding a tall paintbrush with a bright dab of yellow at the end. There was a matching dab on his cheek.

What are you up to? I asked.

He said, with his characteristic smile, on peins la porte, viens.
(We’re painting the door, come.)

You don’t have to tell me twice.

Details of the collaboration's rainbow of fruity flavors

Slimane paints a base coat in blue

Saverio Montella paints with two brushes simultaneously

Suisse Marocain and Barry, who accompanied the painters with song and dance

Suisse and Gaki at the door-painting party

Francesco adds his signautre style

Suisse Marocain closes the doors of 59 rue de Rivoli for the night. To be finished tomorrow...

“Also Women Can Paint” : Suisse Marocain

It’s been Italian week at 59. The gallery is hosting three artists (Antonio Bonura, Marianna Mendozza and Angelo Maisto) who drove up to Paris last weekend and we’ve simultaneously had the pleasure of Guappecarto (longtime friends of 59) play concerts here in the gallery, at New Morning and at L’International. The rhythm of the language is the air and the Tuscan wine is flowing.

Yesterday afternoon I arrived to the studio needing desperately to make photos. I set up my lights fast, trying not to trip visitors with my cables (Sunday afternoon, high traffic), and ran down to the gallery to propose a quick shoot with Marianna, Saverio, Angelo, Tony and his dog Rocco before the concert started.

Marianna Mendozza and Saverio Montella

Antonio Bonura and Rocco

Angelo Maisto

After those spontaneous portraits, I ran down to the gallery where Guappecarto had started playing. If you are in Paris and you don’t know them already, check ‘em out. The first time I heard them play was also the day I entered 59 Rivoli for the first time. On the inspiration scale, this day was seriously high.

Frank Cosentini et Dr Zingarone, Guappecarto

The Guappecarto guys are charming as hell and play with a passion that translates emotion into sound in a direct line from their hearts to ours.  I’m kind of a fan. The music can be soothing, but it’s also got an energy inspiring to action, to creation, to dance, to do SOMETHING… and a bit of dreaming of the sea, and late nights in Italy. Their passion is matched by their humor and hearing their music live is some kind of nourishment that words can’t match.

Guappecarto: Malamente, Frank et Zingarone

Thanks everyone who came by 59 last night for our residents’ group show! For those who couldn’t pass through the gallery at 59 rue de Rivoli in Paris, you still have time! The show will hang until February 14th, when it will end with some young, energetic musical accompaniment.

And, a word about 59 and what it means to me, in a way I may have not said before…

It’s sort of a dream to me to be a resident in this building, a place I first encountered in maybe 2001 or 2002, a naive Midwestern girl roaming Paris, thinking “I will live here.” I couldn’t wrap my mind around how the existence of an artist squat was possible (you mean you just stay and not pay rent? how do you get away with that?), and I didn’t know that’s what this extravagantly decorated building at number 59 was.

What I saw that day, standing on the sidewalk among the shoppers on Rivoli, was freedom. Freedom manifested in a way I had never seen before. Freedom, action, creation, coming out of every window and crevice. My gut emotional response was, YES!

That day the front door was closed and I went about my dreamy wanderings. It wasn’t until 2005 that I saw the inside. It didn’t disappoint. Globally, it was colorful chaos, like a marathon five-hour French-style Christmas feast for the eyes. It was warm like sitting around a fire with friends. It had high collective energy and I wanted a key.

In 2006 I saw the building be emptied, in 2009 I saw it re-filled (sorry, skipping a lot in between), and now in 2010 it’s a place where my personal work is taking a new turn. 59, and the people who created and continue to create it, have inspired me with their talent, friendship and encouragement. My life wouldn’t be the same if we hadn’t crossed paths.

On that note, a few photos from the last couple days.

D.

Sebastien Lecca contemplates his installation.

Fanny Duprat paints it black.

Can you find my head in Seb's collection of faces?

Jeff's son Diego, conquering his fear of dogs. He made his first canine friend on this night.

Camille, a frequenter of Parisian art events. Her maitresse, Pring, is behind her in gold ankle boots, which she created. My feet are in pink.

Fanny makes a killer belle blonde.

Resident artists Agnès de la Roncière and Gaki.

Kim, artist in residence, came decked out in angel's wings. Here photographed with Bernard, who always reminds me to consult his agent if I plan to sell a photo of him.

Yours truly, in a dress inspired by and borrowed from Lucie Belarbi, a long-time resident of 59.

Hey it is almost 4am in Paris, I have 17 tabs open in Firefox, and thinking to to throw a bit of news out there.

In a surge of courage this week, I entered a series of portraits in the Artists Wanted self-portrait contest. The scary part is that the candidates’ portfolios go public tomorrow night! And, until midnight Thursday night (NYC-time) we can all vote!

Yeah, there’s a People’s Choice Award, in addition to the main prize. I’m enjoying the experiment of seeing how many people I can get to vote, not being too pushy in the “social media” area. If I could get all the Voirin’s alone to vote, that would already be a crowd.

If you happen to visit my modest little blog before Thursday night, please check it out and cast a vote!
http://www.artistswanted.org/DaniV

Oh, and another bit of news, here’s an article on a show I participated in at the Oakland University Art Gallery (OUAG) in Michigan called “Let’s Talk About Love, Baby.” All artists created their own version of a romance novel, at the request of curator and librarian, Chido Johnson, prof at the College for Creative Studies.

I made a romance flipbook that I’d describe as G-rated porn with a plastic man. I called it Touch. Chido flipped it for me via Skype. Awaiting my copy from Lulu.

Bonne nuit!
D.

We’ve had snow in Paris for several days now, it’s such a gift! Having layered up for the bitter cold that has accompanied this gift, I went walking in my old neighborhood just after sundown.

It was one of those nights when you just need to walk, when the wheels in your head are turning so fast, your feet have to give them space so they can sort themselves out.

I was lucky. In a neighborhood I used to call home, the light was enchanting. It uncoiled those knots of thoughts and gave me some peace.

Back when I started this blog, one of my reasons for it was to share photos from random celebrations, which I usually send by email in a long montage, sort of like a film strip. I forgot about this for a while, and now that I’ve learned how to create this scrolling box (total html beginner that I am), I’ll start posting these.

Last night there was a party to celebrate 10 years of residence at 59 rue de Rivoli, an artist squat that opened in central Paris a decade ago and has recently become legitimate studios, owned by the city of Paris, and still housing many of the original artists from last century. It doesn’t take much of a reason to have a party with the Electrons Libres, but this is kind of a milestone. I didn’t shoot much, but here are some faces in the crowd.

Cheers to the start of a new year!

Scenes from Le John’s and Le Champs…
D.

Over the weekend I photographed my friend Maria who was in town for the holidays. We always end up making photos together, she’s beautiful and we make a darn good team. The idea was to make a flip book for a project called Let’s Talk About Love Baby, an installation of romance novels, started by my friend Chido Johnson. Each book is an “individual artist’s interpretation of ‘love’ concealed and superficially homogenized” as a romance novel.

This is a huge topic and I had about 104 ideas, not exaggerating, but I’ve always adored flip books so started there. Maria and I shot three scenes, with between 150 and 200 frames each, and decided to go with the third one. It’s partly inspired by the work I have been doing lately, using pieces of my own body (some stuff below in previous posts).

We’ll see how it turns out on paper, I used Lulu and haven’t seen the hard copy yet. Electronically, it’s pretty fun!

Voilà, a coupla outtakes…

Maria Kreyn and the man.

And a link to the book :

New explorations with found objects…

If anyone in Paris has spare mannequin parts, email me!