August 06, 2010
Pastoral scenes
First in Paris and now in San Francisco, I've come across two rather curious pastoral scenes that could give us ideas on what to do with those decorations that hang around in rented student flats or in our grandparents' houses, which we look at with horror but don't dare to throw directly into the bin because our landlady or grandmother insists that in their day they were the BEST and we understand nothing about life.
Pastoral painting or tapestry (very common to find them hanging on the walls in our village grandparents' houses): at the MOMA in San Francisco they suggest we draw mechanics notes or skull sketches over them without much thought, even entrusting the task to our 7-year-old nephew.
Pastoral porcelain (present in ALL traditional rental homes along with the first duralex plates with painted daisies and old Nocilla jars recycled into wine glasses): at the spectacular restaurant BON in Paris they suggest modernizing it with heavy metal band graffiti; the combination couldn't be more edgy.
And speaking of porcelain and pastoral scenes that "make your hair stand on end, listen here", the artist Jeff Koons has a similar piece of Michael Jackson and his chimpanzee Bubbles on display at the MOMA in San Francisco, in satin white and gold. Quite something. The Consort, who has been a loyal Michael fan all his life and has silently suffered the cross this entailed until a year ago, could not be prouder to pose in this idyllic pastoral scene that needs no intervention to be equally modern and terrifying.
A thousand kisses,
The Countess in search of a sheep
A thousand kisses,
The Countess in search of a sheep