Paris in the Springtime.
More and more I find myself in a state of flux. Defined by a continuous change or movement, flux follows me around, snapping at my heels and leads me into the unknown. Transient spaces become my temporary home; a living room, a train station, a bar, a street corner, I am nomadic, a hobo by choice, I shift, in a floating workspace, in a perpetual funk, in a kind of happy Limbo.
As an artist my job description changes constantly along with the surrounding environments and conditions, presenting opportunities to travel which I relish. My work feeds off the new people and environments, and with ever developing modes of communication and transportation, it is easy to just get up and in capital letters, GO!
I recently spent a long week in Paris. A week away usually feels like three, packing in and painting as much as possible, Never Not Working. Paris a great example for so many things, the epitome of culture, art, food, nightlife, the city is a non-stop cliché; romance and history bubble on the surface, while in the shadows, the roof tops and subterranean catacombs. The city is very much alive, hungry and never asleep.
The week is difficult to sum up in a few words, but in a nut-shell, MSA Gallery hosted me, and put on a splendid spread of international artists hanging on the walls on L\INCONNU Bar-come-Gallery-come-Meeting Place for the lost and hungry artists trawling the streets of Paris. I met and worked alongside a feast of amazing artists, set against an endless stream of Parisian hipsters, hedonists and homeless. Paris Free Walls found me walls to throw myself against, THgallery kept me warm and cozy. We slept on floors, we slept on sofas, we slept standing up, we did not sleep, but we did eat, drink and devour our own body weight in meat, cheese, wine, coffee and spray paint.
Much of the week happened by chance. Most of my plans were replaced by new, spur of the moment, spontaneous, serendipitous, versions of what was supposed to happen. The week epitomized the journey being the destination, never quite arriving, or staying anywhere long enough to settle. Just enough time to make a mark and allow the paint to dry. I have learned to trust and enjoy the flux, to find comfort in chaos, kindness in strangers, and opportunities waiting around every corner, chasing my tail, painting myself into a corner, and most important of all, to enjoy every second.
by DAVID SHILLINGLAW
