For this painting, I’ve chosen to evoke George Harrison’s album All Things Must Pass, as it holds a very special place in both my personal life and my artistic journey. This album, released in 1970, is considered a monument of pop-folk-rock music, with extraordinary melodic finesse and sensitivity.
I discovered it in 2011, during my very first visit to San Francisco. I was taking part in an artistic residency that culminated in a gallery exhibition. At the time, I was in the grip of contradictory feelings: I was fulfilling one of my dreams of going to San Francisco, while at the same time mourning the death of someone extremely dear to me. I bought this album in SF first for its evocative title and cover, and listened to it over and over again. This was George Harrison’s third solo album, the first released after the Beatles split up. His voice and his words were a great comfort to me… an immense consolation.
In this painting, intended as an evocation of the album, I have depicted George Harrison as a mischievous fox who has lived several lives. I was inspired in particular by the Yellow Submarine album cover, which made a deep impression on me aesthetically speaking, and especially by the cover of the All Things Must Pass album. This album was George Harrison’s favorite, and the cover shows a strange-looking George with his big hat, beard, boots and garden gnomes…as if calmly awaiting the apocalypse.
This painting also contains nods to Ravi Shankar, with the owl and his zither, and to the logo of Apple Records, the record label created by the Beatles in 1968, with the apples flying all around the protagonists. Like all my paintings, this one is full of other details and symbols that I hope will resonate with those who see it.