Street Art in Paris Pt 7 – Space Invader

i know i’m repeating myself a little here but i can’t resist.

and not just because he’s popular and a little bit well-known,

but because what he does is truly unique, because the work individually and as a collective whole is fun, and because his concept is really coherent.

i’m talking about the street artist formally known as space invader.  he currently has two awesome exhibitions running in Paris (one on either side of town – see here for more details) to celebrate his thousandth invasion on the city.  and that’s not including his hometown of lille or any of the other 40 or so cities he has hit over the span of his career.

the pictures and info that follows is the result of my visit to the exhibition at la general.  upon arrival one enters through what is essentially a large warehouse space through a dimly lit shipping container filled with mosaic tiles.  exploring the space one will find, among numerous other wonders, a perspex box of (used) shoes which have been made with soles featuring a space invader logo, a vending machine of space invader stickers, a two storey high illuminated rubix cube, space invader disco ball and several maps indicating the artists plethora of invasions – all chronologically numbered.

caption: shoes made ​​and worn by invader in his invasions around the world

for sale at the conclusion of the exhibition is beer and waffles – in the shape of the infamous gaming icon.  yes, the man actually manufactured an invader waffle iron.

the more serious work, which is the true focus of the show, is not what i would consider his more traditional or classic work but it’s something he’s been doing since at least 2005. much in the vein of the recent shepherd fairey exhibition i last wrote about here in part 6 of the series, space invader appropriates popular imagery of bands, musicians, actors, films – with a twist.  invader uses only rubix cubes to build the image.  he has even made a rubix cube version of shepherd fairey’s original andre the giant sticker (perhaps in homage to his peer), along with representations of two highly recognised artworks by lichtenstein and hokusai. ‘how postmoderrrrrn!‘ you might say.

what i find remarkable is that he doesn’t deconstruct the cube to use the pieces individually (as with the mosaic tiles featuring in the majority of his street work) rather, he puts the piece together using the entire rubix cube making sure the face holds the correct colours in the correct places to fit the whole image.  i’ve always admired anyone with the patience and skill to solve rubix cube but i think this might have to be one step above!

even with the rubix cube, invader remains within his central theme both visually and conceptually.  the mosaic imagery remains in addition to the reference to gaming and childhood pastimes.  more than anything (and this is becoming a theme for my own work here at tobeilluinated) is the aspect of  fun his work contains.  the colours, the reference to gaming, the score keeping, the act of vandalism/installing the space invaders, the simplicity of his visual style – it lights me up inside.

NB: again, sorry for the poor quality of some of these images

genevieve dieng

 

here you will find the drawings of a girl.

her name is genevieve dieng and i just happened to spot her drawing out in the sunshine on the terrace of the palais de tokyo, not far from when i live.  as soon as my eye caught what she was working on i had to take a closer look…

the drawings i watched her make (and later summoned the courage to ask her about) were ridiculously detailed, feminine and lush.  i wanted to be one of the girls in her drawings with endless flowing hair, angry mouths and surrounded by raining, radiating patterns of flowers, snakes, disco balls and playing cards.

something about her drawings is decidedly melancholy.  despite some of the work being hyper coloured and full of movement and action, the expressions of the characters remain somber and deadly serious.  i like the contrast… it’s very zen in a strange way.

so, taking a deep breath and unearthing my best french – errrrr franglais – i found out that dieng studies art at the moment and that she preferred i didn’t show any of the work she had in her sketchbook – a HUGE shame as the work i saw was truly magnificent!

massively disappointed i pushed a little further and was told i could find some of her older work on her facebook page.  the following is what i found…

 

 

pas mal, genevieve!

 

 

boneface

so the following work by boneface is another little something i stumbled across online just recently.

this guy is clearly obsessed by comics.  within all of his work is a reference to violence, battle or some kind of epic dilemma to be faced.  the style of the work featured in this post is the artists latest mode of expression but please check out the guy’s website as you will find archives of other very nice work in similar but varied styles.

i love the violence implied in his pieces and the humour which is evident in combination with the rest of boneface’s body of work.  the artist has effectively created scenarios where everyday people can become superheroes and superheroes seem more akin to us mere mortals.  i love that he toys with the possibility that pair of incredible hulk gloves and a mask is all one might need to become invincible.  it takes my imagination in all sorts of directions!

in the theme of comics, there is a play with narrative in these works which leaves a lot to the imagination and the true violence occurs in our minds where only a token (a line of blood, radiating impact lines, a clenched fist, broken glass) occurs in the image.

the candy coloured works are playful, light and fun. and being a massive batman fan, i can’t help but love boneface’s nosebleed portraits of the superhero in question.  his sidekick (robin’s) nosebleed makes me smile too!

xx

street art in paris PART 6

otherwise known as OBEY, shepard fairey has been in the street art game since 1989.

something you might recognise:

he began by slapping his ‘andre the giant’ sticker (beginnings of what evolved into his trademark image, as above) everywhere he could with his mates and fellow design students.  the now artist, designer and entrepreneur eventually refined the design to be made into posters and finally pasted them on a multitude of walls globally.  an act and image only really meant as an in-joke became more and more recognised by the general public and generated a slightly overwhelming reverberation.

fairey himself admits,

at first I was only thinking about the response from my clique of art school and skateboard friends. the fact that a larger segment of the public would not only notice, but investigate, the unexplained appearance of the stickers was something i had not contemplated...

i was lucky enough to stumble across his paris exhibition just recently.  here i found host of prints by the artist which are currently for sale.  personally, i never knew the extent of the work fairey had produced outside the OBEY stickers and posters and was amused to find a multitude of interesting pop culture identities and references within the work displayed.  

fairey’s experience in design on large commercial scales (having made a name for himself in the marketing/design world, he has worked for the likes of pepsi, hasbro and the black eyed peas to name just a handful in addition to founding his own design company) is evident and the work is highly polished and seriously well made.

i love the subtle (and not so subtle!) nods to different styles of commercial design in the direction of art nouveau posters of the 20s, skater style imagery, chinese propaganda designs and 1960s music posters.  the simple use of colour (predominantly black, neutrals, red and blue) and continued reference to the stencil also floats my boat, as i’m sure it will yours… take a geez…

NB: this exhibition can be found at the gallerie magda danysz
(78 rue amelot, 75011 – the work will be around until 18th June so be sure to check it out!)

oliver morris

mannnnnnn i am in double exposure heaven.

i’m massively cheating with this post and i swear i’ll get back on track with the street art series soon but  i absolutely couldn’t just walk on by without (shamelessly) re-posting the photographs i found here on booooooom.

so soft, so dreamy and with a definite sense of the crispy cool in-between seasons feeling that permeates our days this time of the year in both the northern and southern hemispheres.  the dusky light of the skies, the movement of the grass and trees and the female silhouette all together satisfies my aesthetic appetite and generally makes me happy.

check out the photographer’s flickr here for more eye candy 😉

 

 

 

 

street art in paris PART 5

ok SO.
for this little post i have a bunch of poster/sticker bits and pieces to share with you humans.

these are really from all over the city and for the most part i just think these are cute/clever/nice to look at.

(working two jobs has me a little less descriptive and eloquent than usual, je m’excuse!)

street art in paris PART 4

here are some images of some of jef aerosol‘s stencils

he is prolific here in paris (and in his own right) but lives now in lille and perhaps my favourite stencil artist (besides banksy of course). he makes a lot of portraits of famous rock stars and other celebrities and in addition a lot of lovely detailed figures in various poses.

the artist works usually in black and gray tones with his trademark red arrow punctuations.  to me he has a simple and very clear visual style which i really appreciate.  i think a sophisticated play with simplicity is important!  both in life and art. (more of his work in my previous post).

my favourite

found in the same area as these (around the 20eme arrondissement) and also in the le marais area, among other locations, can be found the stencil work of lézarts janaundjs.  much more colourful, this work includes a similar measure of detail and skill as aerosol and can be found almost as frequently (in my experience).

again, all photos are my own so please seek permission before reproducing. thanks!

street art in paris PART 3

hello again, this here post centres on the stencil style of street art (as requested!)

stencil art is perhaps one of the newest forms of street art and is also perhaps one of the most involved and highly skilled media within the genre.  it’s labor intensive, it’s extremely risky and it involves extra equipment to achieve if you wanna do it right, yo.

to produce a piece with multiple colours or tones one must draw and cut the same number of stencils as are colours/tones. each stencil is sprayed onto the wall and later overlapped with another stencil and another layer of colour/tone (very much like screen printing if anyone has dabbled in printmaking) to produce a detailed, high depth work.  in between each layer is a waiting period, depending on the type of paint used, which can be a risky business when making ones art where people often pass by.  even in the wee hours it only takes one narrower-minded walker-by to pick up a phone and dial 17 (the number for the police here).

hence, my feelings of respect towards such individuals and the work they so lovingly produce is strong.  please scroll for a number of random works i am unable to credit very well (feel free to help me here if you can!)  and never fear, i have a handful more really superb stencil works featuring in my next post.  so watch this space!

enjoy…

by ‘jef aerosol’

i assume also by ‘jef aerosol’ as the style is remarkably similar
(esp. with the red arrows)
the red text on the windowsill translates as “the music soothes the walls”

i admit this one is not particularly skilled BUT i love the concept.  this work is also really well located, surrounded by a lot of expensive boutiques, restaurants and bars in one of the most wealthy arrondissements of paris – a nice little comment on some of the weath and status obsessed parisians… and it’s cute!

street art in paris PART 2

space invader!

if you dig street art and haven’t heard of space invader my first question to you would most likely be, have you been living under a rock??! said with much indignation, buckets of disbelief and a hint of outrage.

probably one of the most iconic and infamous street artists in existence, space invader himself is based in paris (lucky me!).  the tally of his invasion of this city is currently at 704 which means that you’d have to have seriously impaired vision not to spot one of his works!  i’ve noticed that there seems to be more of them around the north and east of paris if you’re keen on hunting some down. also check out his website here for more pictures and info.

besides paris and the rest of france, space invader has left his mark literally all over the world.  again, check out his web site for more details.  perth and melbourne (in my beautiful country of origin) hold totals of 26 each (including one stuck to a shipping buoy in the middle of the ocean!).  however, it disappoints me slightly that sydney has been forgotten… he’ll just have to come back someday.

the things i love about space invader
*  his street art name is both clever and cute
*  staying true to the original video game he gives himself points for every invasion
*  each little character up on a wall is different
*  his visual style is really simple, iconic and fun
*  it’s such a nice surprise to turn a corner and bump into one here… sometimes i play a game to see how many i notice (and how many points i can accumulate) in a day.

please scroll to see some of my favourites…

on a side note:
i’ve noticed a few around town that look like they might be fake or copycat versions… can anyone confirm/deny/offer an opinion on this??

street art in paris PART 1

i am a big fan of street art
sometimes i leave the house just to go treasure hunting for new pieces…

tags? NO
elaborate crap on the side of trains? NO
bathroom graffiti? NO
all of the above: JUVENILE

try beautiful posters, peepholes, mosaic pieces, clever slogans
think banksy, swoon, obey, JR, space invader, blek le rat and gaia (just to name a handful of some the most well-known).

a lot of people are currently debating the validity and value of street art these days.  artists such as banksy and space invader release films and sell iconic merchandise and in the tune of “selling out” i see their point.  people have even started cutting out pieces of concrete walls to own a ‘banksy’.  and if you’ve seen his film exit through the gift shop you will see that the subject of this film is a classic example of the “sell out” type.

i agree that yes, there’s a charm in the idea of the starving artist, making art in the name of passion and truth but in my opinion everyone’s got to make a living!  i, for one, am certain that retaining integrity and making money is possible!  debate aside…

the reasons i love good street art:
*  it’s free for all to see
*  it’s very temporary and ephemeral depending on the weather, the street cleaners, the building’s owner etc
*  the element surprise when you turn a corner
*  there is no particular style or limit as there is no one from whom to gain permission or approval
*  the element of risk involved in putting the piece on the wall is exciting
*  the anonymity of the artist and this kind of secrecy is fun
*  the artists doesn’t ask permission therefore doesn’t have to endure long and arduous processes to have their work displayed/exhibited.

please scroll to see 5 of my favourite treasures so far
and stay tuned for more in the coming couple of weeks.

goliath – le marais

goliath – le marais

NB: these are all images taken by yours truly during the 8 months i’ve been traipsing the streets of this glorious city.
ALSO: if you happen to know the names of any of the artists i haven’t credited please do tell, as i would be keen to put their names in lights and learn more about their work.

jessica harrison

 

check it out!

i am partial to a little bit of gore at times.  especially when used playfully and with humour.  edinburgh based ceramicist and sculptor jessica harrison, has absolutely nailed the contrast of blood and guts with smiles and grace.  her concept here seems to me so simple and straightforward which is perhaps why these little sculptures are so popular, so hilarious.

according to the artist however, a number of similarly juxtaposing layers lay just under the surface.  harrison speaks about ideas of making a hard object (the miniature figurine) soft by exposing her insides.  she also mentions the importance of the process itself – how delicately the figure is physically deconstructed and reconstructed, opposed to the apparent violence implied by severed heads, the spilling out of intestines and cut throats.

this is all very interesting, i would like to tell the artist, but what makes me smile the widest is the smiles, delight and charm on the faces of the figurines as their organs spill out.  take note of amy jane in the green (the last piece pictured).  isn’t she just adorable?

many bloggers have posted about this artist – i am certainly not the first and her facebook fans seem to be breeding at present.  become a fan yourself here.  you might also be interested to know that harrison has just announced that a limited edition of prints (photographs of the sculptures) are now available on her website.  a fabulous option if you can’t afford one of the pieces themselves!

 

 

art student parties

i forgot how much i miss these parties.

one time i went to my cousin john’s grad exhibition and we watched a performance artist throw raw fish and gnawed ham bones around and down his underpants in the middle of a courtyard.  he was next to naked and accompanied by some minimal house music coming from an old school tape deck including the occasional spoken lyrics, “fish to the left, fish to the left” whereby the raw fish was thrust leftward.  to this day anything resembling that phrase amongst those that were there results in fits of rolling giggles.

like my cousins grad exhibition, this little student art party i stumbled on tonight was located on the school grounds and included bottles and bottles and bottles (but never enough) of cheap red wine to be consumed at our leisure.  we were lucky enough to find half a bottle and (in imitation of the others) guarded it jealously under our arm as we perused the work there.

it was no surprise that the show contained some work that was terribly weak and some that was magnificent.  following is some of the more magnificent.  being a poorly organised event, there were no names titles or numbers attached so i cannot give anyone credit.  ALSO i must apologise for the poor picture quality – i only had my phone on me at the time as our attendance this eve was completely unplanned, unannounced and uninvited.  sorry fellas… désolé les gars.

i overheard a funny conversation while two guys looked at one of the pieces.  it went exactly like this:

garson1 – j’ai un question…
boy1           – i have a question…
garson2 – ouais?
boy2           – yeah?
garson1 – pourquoi???
boy1           – why???

this was the one he referred to:

i have to admit, i agree completely.  but what’s one of these shows without some seriously overdone clichéd lame piece of shit???

caroline bouyer

NB: please excuse for the poor picture quality – click on the links to see better versions and more info on this work

 

one thing i really love about paris and travel generally is the opportunity for exploration and discovery.  i remark often among friends that there is truly too much to explore and discover in this city and i’m afraid that a year is still not enough to see everything i want to see.

so on the topic of exploration and paris, i’d like to share one of my adventures with you.  yesterday i decided the weather was mild enough to get out of my “box” (what my friends and i have nick-named our tiny top floor studio living spaces) and go for a nice walk around the area of république and further into the heart of northern 11th arrondissment/neighbourhood.  the promise of a number of artists’ squats that i’ve been told are located here whet my appetite for adventure.   the area also has a reputation for being a little more relaxed and ‘alternative’ with more young people residing here.  so with a friday morning to myself i thought, pourquoi pas? why not?

and what did i find you ask? my answer: a trove of hidden treasures of not only several artists squats but some great cheap vintage stores, pockets of amazing street art and most excitingly, painter and printmaker caroline bouyer, in her shopfront studio.  i spotted her beautiful prints in the front window and upon entering the shop was greeted by the artist herself, sat at her workspace next to the radio working on inking up to produce the next print.  the scent of the ink and turps took me straight back to university and my own time in the printmaking studios there.

despite a bit of a language barrier (due to my nerves and subsequent loss of what french language i have) bouyer was extremely accommodating when i asked her permission to take some photos and to write this post.  she told me that intaglio etching is her favourite medium to work with and that the process is sometimes very long.  from sketching the design to rolling the paper and plate in the press, a lot of things can go wrong.  i think this is why i found it so satisfying at university – when i began to hone my technique, less went wrong and when i finally made the ink and paper do what i wanted them to do i felt such a sense of achievement.  printmaking is a medium and skill that i truly respect!

bouyer works within four categories at present: urban landscapes, busts, portraits and the ‘inner world’.  i am particularly fond of the works from the inner world but i must admit i’m fond of them all.  i find the appearance of texture and it’s effect on the light and the shade of the works to be really delicate and it’s clear that sensitivity and skill have been applied to all of the work you see here.

click here for bouyer’s web site and more of her work if you like what you see.

following is also a short film you can find on the artists site (particularly cool if you are interested in the printmaking process!)

Caroline Bouyer : Gravure from fussandfeathers.com on Vimeo.

stacey rozich

i love this womannn.  i just found her recently through a blog i frequent named my love for you is a stampede of horses.

the best way i can describe it is like taking where the wild things are and drenching the characters with hyper-colours, geometric patterns and slightly more gruesome visages.  the ‘wild things’ reference is stretched further by rozich’s interest in tribal costume.  sited in another post by my love for you, the artists speaks of tribal influences including north west native american, west african and also an affection for 70s russian folktale cinema and eastern european illustration.

as you can probably see, each work depicts a little narrative and every detail reflects an aspect of the character.  like the traditions rozich refers to, each element of her pieces hold significance in the telling of a tale.   i especially love the juxtaposition of the happy sweet colours and bold patterns with the eyeless masks and more gruesome details.  i actually really like the more gruesome details: the worm like faces hiding behind masks and the sharp claws, teeth, spears, horns, axes and tongues.  in the telling of these stories rozich invents her own mythologies and legends.

whats MORE, one of my favourite bands ever (introduced to me by the one and only lachlan dale – no one i know is more obsessed with creating and absorbing (good) music than he – his blogs here, here and here) earth, have commissioned stacey rozich to create the artwork for their recently released album ‘angels of darkness, demons of light’.

 

 

earth’s vocabulary similarly consists of mainly folklore and mythological references and i believe this album to be an astounding collaboration of visual and aural.  it makes for a sublime sensory experience.

listen to this song descend to the zenith while browsing rozich’s work, if you will.  tell me what you think.

cody spencer

 

hello world

i want to give you the short & sweet about a bloke i know, cody spencer.

he’s an amazing young photographer.  this collection of shots is from a group called skate diary.  they’re actually about two years old but i think, in my humble opinion, some of his best work i’ve come across so far.  these shots belong in skate magazines or on someones wall.

check out those featured above  ..  ..
& click below for more
:
:
bing

and this one here is paddy and jimmy which is my personal ‘pick’ of the ‘bunch’

adieu

x

freeka

i was introduced to a frenchy by the name of ‘freeka tet’ recently.  one night i met with an australian friend, ‘reecard farché’ who was in paris just for one more evening to play a gig.  reecard wears an amazing penis on his face when performing his electronic musical somethings.  freeka makes similar performances himself, though i have only seen him on stage once.  on this occasion he wore some big pink ears, and brushed his teeth…

BUT i am getting off topic little.  the thing i am personally more interested in for this post is that freeka also likes to make tattoos on people.  for a lot of reasons i have always been fascinated by tattoos – aesthetically and conceptually i believe it to be a really exciting practice.  and these tattoos i particularly adore.

the idea of permanence involved with tattoo art (for me) also conversely refers to the notion of personal changes with the passage of time.  besides how beautiful tattoos can be i think for some of us the act of placing something visual and permanent on our skin can be an attempt to imprint and show off an important piece of our individual story.  as with the pieces above, tattoos are a personal business and for the outsider it’s impossible to understand completely what or why.  i think this makes the whole idea a little bit special.

freeka was trained in visual arts and advertising, later working in graphic design for several years.  but as he said to me,

the tattoos i am doing are the opposite of everything i learnt in school, its more linked with my music

you might have understood already from my brief description of his music that this is far from any kind of formal or institutionalised form of art.  it seems to me to be a more spontaneous, child-like, happy and sometimes violent expression of energy.

in this sense i am reminded of my last post on basquiat and both artists’ connections to the art brut style.  freeka also sites the cobra movement of 1948-51 including a collection of mostly dutch and danish painters committed to spontaneity and freedom of colour and form.

the way freeka himself began the tattooing was to make a dot with the basic needle and ink on his friends and eventually progressed to a ‘real’ tattoo gun machine.  in fact, he practiced on himself in the beginning – apparently the top of ones’ legs is a nice and easy place to start – and tells me it doesn’t really hurt because of how focussed one must be to make the tattoo.  i can almost believe him but when he offers me, if i’m interested, to try it on myself  i don’t hesitate (too much) to reply in the negative.

shortly after this kind suggestion, i discussed with freeka the addictive quality of tattoos and truly, i can’t say i’m not tempted to have a go…

to see more of freeka’s tattoos
click here

to see all of freeka’s links including
sites for his music, art, performance
and video please click here

basquiat

 

so this is a post about the  jean-michel basquiat exhibition i recently visited at the modern art museum of paris here in the 16th (which is just next to the must visit restaurant, tokyo eat at palais de tokyo).  i studied his work briefly at university and at the time i remember being intrigued.  to be honest my main thoughts were, ‘how could he have become so famous just by painting like a child?’ which i think might be a common thought when viewing his works and others of a similar style.

but famous he certainly was and still is, the evidence in plain sight upon trying to see this exhibition week after week, always with a queue halfway down the block.

i think a lot of the answer to this question may have something to do with his famous friends. some include blondie (whose music video he once starred in), david bowie (who later played the role of andy warhol in ‘basquiat’ the film) and madonna (who he briefly dated).  in the later years of his career he collaborated for some time with andy warhol who became a close friend. it all goes a long way to reinforce the old saying about who you know as compared to what you know!

raw use of colour and ideas on the black/hispanic/african experience in north america, on consumerism and on the constraints of convention on the individual dominate much of his work (click here or here for more background info – it’s far too much for my little blog).  basquiat’s background as a poor, black/hispanic, terribly intelligent child seems to have a lot to do with where he and his art ended up.

i believe that as a teenager and in his early 20s basquiat was a serious rebel but quite an intelligent one. the beginnings of his public art making was the graffiti he scrawled all over lower manhattan with a friend, al diaz.  they called themselves SAMO and although basquiat moved from walls to canvas the style of the work changed little.

text was a common feature of all of his art.  for me a lot of it didn’t make much sense and wasn’t totally coherent with the images presented.  i would have loved the chance to speak with the artist himself!  it is apparent that a great portion of the work was thrown out onto the canvas stream-of-consciousness style, my lovely man asked me towards the end of the exhibition, ‘was he schizophrenic?’

indeed the sheer quantity of work is overwhelming and it’s evident that this guy had a serious and sincere compulsion to express himself, to create.  probably due to his visual style, one interviewer asked basquiat if there was anger in his work, to which he responded, ‘it’s about 80% anger’.

i felt this strongly while at the exhibition with many pieces that looked to me to be two-thirds finished with a plethora of paint drips on the canvasses and scribbled out text and images.  some say this kind of process could be interpreted as a rejection of conventional, institutional or more rigid forms of art – even a casting off of conventional society in general.

it is no secret that the artist indulged in drug use throughout his life-time. perhaps inevitably basquiat developed a serious heroin habit which likely contributes to the “schizophrenic” scribbling evident in most of his work.  a combination perhaps of the pain from his childhood, his struggle with fame and the fortune and certainly the drug use itself, the artist became intentionally more and more reclusive and eventually died of a heroin overdose at 27 years old in 1988.

somehow i find his life slightly more interesting than his work – maybe a nice little quote from the man himself which might best sum up his life:

i had some money, i made the best paintings ever.  i was completely reclusive, worked a lot, took a lot of drugs.  i was awful to people.

sounds like, sadly, a life half-lived to me.  i don’t know how illuminated that is, besides the brightness of his spark that never quite reaching its optimum clarity.

french women

after a very indulgent christmas and new year period i am now gently thinking a little more purposefully about what i’m putting on my plate (see my previous post here for more ideas on this topic).   i know it’s very cliché but here in Paris – and especially here in the affluent ‘new money’ 16eme arrondissement – for the most part, french women don’t get fat.

walking around the neighbourhood one is not only exposed to the array of extremely well dressed men and women but those who are also tremendously slim.  a couple of times (even with my glasses on) from across a narrow street i was shocked to have mistaken a possibly 60-year-old woman for a woman in her 20s.  due to her dress sense and sheer size this woman performed a photoshop style optical illusion right before my eyes.

since this incident i have had my eyes peeled for such phenomena and have witnessed several more examples also from the male sector of the community. it cannot be denied that parisians are particularly good at this trick.

a lot of people say it’s about starving yourself, some say the french are just built lightly from the beginning and for others perhaps it’s the symptom of a hectic stressful working week.

however, mireille guiliano has different ideas, as demonstrated in a series of books i have been hooked on for some time now – french women don’t get fat.  a lot of the content speaks of portion control and nutritional awareness however she believes the most important aspect to getting rid of and keeping away unwanted extra weight is through the thorough enjoyment of the pleasure of eating. i like this concept a lot!  guilt and food always seems to be an unhealthy combination to me – for the body, mind and spirit.

she includes a handful of easy practical tips for the post holiday wind down too.  So, needless to say I am currently eagerly devouring mireille guiliano’s words and recipes from her french women don’t get fat cookbook.

you must read any one of her books for yourself to truly understand what this woman is about but i really believe that it’s her love and passion for delicious food that inspires me to eat more consciously.

i love this line of her biography,

mireille’s three favourite pastimes – breakfast, lunch and dinner

moi aussi, mirelle!

oh sugar sugar

hands up, who else has a sugar addiction?

you may not be the blatant kind of addict who likes to put too much in your tea or snack on lollies/candy/bonbon all day or pour half the sugar jar in with your weet-bix in the morning.  or you might be.

or you may be the more discreet style of addict (like me) who snacks on pastries after lunch and pours streams of honey into her mint tea.  or maybe you enjoy a few lines of your favourite chocolate during the week as a little reward to one’s self for coping with… well, one’s week at large.  in fact, good quality chocolate is an intimate friend of mine.  although i try to stick to the dark, less sugary, less fatty kind and often opt for organic – green&blacks 85% is my absolute favourite – i still tend to binge on the less healthy kind far too often.

oh and if anyone has heard of angelina on rue de rivoli here in paris you will understand what i mean when i rant about the impossibility of passing by that place without stopping for one of their luscious ‘africain’ hot chocolates. but that deserves a whole other post entirely to itself.

my point is this: whatever your sweet drug of choice, if it’s derived from or includes any sugar you can be sure it is oh so bad for you.  i recently came across a post by sarah wilson, an australian journalist, and television producer/personality, who has an excellent blog about the betterment of self.  she will post an article on the topic of how bad sugar is for you on her blog in a five part series over the next couple of weeks.

she outlines that back in the day (around 200 years ago and earlier) humans barely ate sugar and only that which can be found in fruit or honey, which was scarce or difficult to come by until fairly recently on the scale of human existence.  so the body’s survival mechanisms are set to store as much of this kind of energy source as possible due to it’s belief in this scarcity.  so basically, we are biologically programmed to gorge on this kind of food if and whenever it is in reach… no wonder it’s so difficult to resist the little lemon tart in the window on the way home from work.

there’s so much more info on sarah wilsons’ post on the topic (found by clicking this link) than i can fit into one post but briefly:

the energy highs and lows of sugar addiction are damaging to not only your own brain but especially the developing brain of children and adolescents

there is more and more scientific evidence displaying that it is sugar and not fat that produces the excess unwanted fat in our bodies

there have been studies that show that sugar is more addictive than cocaine

sarah is bravely committing to quitting sugar entirely for a month.  i’m not sure i will be quite as saintly but i’m definitely going to lay off the sugary treats and when i next walk by the patisserie/boulangerie i will make sure i don’t go in. it should be especially beneficial after the holiday period!

maybe i can limit my sugar to the weekends and make sure it’s truly more of a nibble than a binge…

“mac doh”

image by don mac illustration

pronounced “mac doh” is the frenchy nickname for the worlds most loved and hated fast food outlet. these crazy parisians seem to love it.  i’m at the indifferent/hate end of the spectrum.  the grease is alright when severely hungover – but i certainly find better quality grease elsewhere.  and besides all the well known and publicised massive corporate, environmental, health, economic issues,

THE COFFEE IS SO SO SO SO BAD. why am i drinking it then? especially in a city where good coffee is abundant and cheap? you might ask.  because i don’t have any internet connection in my bleeeping apartment at the moment and the bleeeeping cafe where i might otherwise have connected and had a NICE coffee is CLOSED.  and i can’t sit here and use the internet unless i buy something from this godforsaken place.

IF there’s a next time
i’ll be opting for water.

BLEEEP YOU mac DOH!