Toast for Gilles Larraín 70th Birthday, January 17th 2009
By Hayley McCulloch
Ladies, Gentlemen, and those who have the pleasure of being
undecided...we are rounded up here today to
pay a heartfelt and multicolored homage to
a technicolored and multi-talented man who
is an artist and iconoclast, a saint and a
sinner, a troubadour and a muse to many.
Gilles Larrain is an Opera, the kind you will willingly sit
through, enraptured, absolutely spellbound
-even when you really need to get up and pee.
This is going to be a long one, and I met
some of you at the door, remember? (and I've
got your names, so don't even think about
it...)
If you truly know Gilles, you know the best of what Gilles is
-Namely a conduit, a conductor, a connector, he is the sparking
synapse, the lightning and the lightning rod, and staff.
This is a man with an all round majestic presence, good god have
you ever had the pleasure of hugging him? I judge by the smiles that
some of you may have shared more intimate pleasures than this.
This man is magnetic not just because of
his talent, his accomplishments or celebrated
critical acclaim, but because he's what my
Grandfather would have admirably referred
to as, The Salt of the earth, laddie!" and
to what I will more fittingly add, The Salt
of the earth laced with the effervescent dust
of an asteroid.
I made a sculpture a few months ago, and thought of Gilles after I'd
finished it. It's called 'ORE.' Its a somewhat sinister looking roughly
hewn white plaster mask with a black mans features, grinning a
prominent and generous wide-mouthed chunky partially chiseled 24
carat gold toothed smile, emerging from a white bricked wall.
The name 'ORE' seemed suitable for this piece for the same
reason I thought of Gilles at that precise
moment because both speak golden volumes about
the value of having and sharing deep inner
resources, and the ability to show this at
face value.
'ORE' is what Gilles is to me a naturally
occurring, unpolished precious phenomena the
raw form of treasure springing from incalculable
depths, with an equally incalculable value,
complete with all the salt minerals and the
fertile earth clasped around it.
Bold, provocative and mischievous as Pan,
he is something of a Satyr, one eager to kick
out the cobwebs clinging to conventional faculty.
When I am around Gilles I find that Mythology
and Archetype cannot be separated from my
perceptions of him, because he embodies the
archetypal passion of Artist, Musician, Poet
and Magician. He is a boon for the creative
conscious; he is no less than shamanic.
When I first I met the lovely Louda Larrain
at a NY art show she approached me to be a
model, for a photo shoot, but for her husband....
and my initial reaction was, hmmm, am I being
requested to pose for a pet project of one
of those swinging East European couples..
jeez, aren't I getting a bit old for that?
But when I met them, here, the following week, I felt like some
unuttered request for a delivery to feed my hunger for a kindred
spirit was made -and it was a blue light special, where I received
two quality imports for the price of one.
Gilles is something and somebody who completes a piece of the pie
for me in my experience of life, instead of somebody who eats it
away.
Trying to encapsulate what Gilles means to
me is what the inexplicable concept of Duende
and Saudade convey. (By the way, when googling
the proper meaning and pronunciation of "Saudade",
a suggestion of a brand of Spanish Sausage
came up which the great Oracle Google must
have understood somehow, that this is yet
another affectionate way that I think of dear
Gilles)
However I will allow the word of Garcia Lorca
explain that:
"The duende, then, is a power, not a work. It is a struggle, not a
thought. I have heard an old maestro of the guitar say, 'The duende
is not in the throat; the duende climbs up inside you, from the soles
of the feet.' Meaning this: it is not a question of ability, but of true,
living style, of blood, of the most ancient culture, of spontaneous
creation."
The Wikipedia meaning of duende as in tener
duende (having duende) is a rarely explained
concept it is also a goblin-like creature
in Spanish art, particularly flamenco, having
to do with emotion, expression and authenticity.
In fact, tener duende can be loosely translated
as having soul. The entry might as well have
had a self portrait of Gilles Larrain next
to it.
Saudade is hearing and seeing Gilles play guitar. You are witness to
a force of nature that knows enormous love and longing with a
unified capacity for compassion and heartache.
Saudade is that fleeting moment of humanity
he captures and crystallizes with his expert
photographerís eye, so that we too may reflect
on such transient beauty slowing down for
us the moments that our lives are comprised
of.
His heart is like a diamond, His mind a labyrinthine library
of images you will gladly leaf through and
get lost in, His soul is the rhythm of flame
red flamenco played after the midnight hour
that draws you into a place of rapture, where
everything is as passionate as it is utterly
enveloping, and you will emerge from this
state completely fortified, face flushed and
feel deeply honored to know this great man.
SO Here is to GILLES -Happy Birthday Gilles!
I Love You Dearly
|
