d’Arte Board

I went to Montreal for a little rest and relaxation and while flipping through channels of French TV a little something caught my eye. It was an old man tearing subway posters, and while I have no idea what he was saying about it I kind got the gist that he goes around his town peeling bits off of walls and then rearranging them on canvas. The end result looks remarkably similar to what I photograph, the main difference being that he creates and I find, but our philosophies are very much the same. He says in an interview here:

“It is really a utopian view. You always cheat a little. But the lacéré anonyme exists to a certain degree. After the first exhibitions I thought people would go outside and take posters from the streets, just as I did. That was not so. It is a bitter victory for me, after all, I like to save myself the creative agony. The whole world makes work for me — I only have to collect it.”

I’ve often thought the same thing. When I started taking the photos of the subway billboards I thought, “This is just so easy I’m sure everyone must be doing it”, but as I looked into it a bit more I realized I was wrong. I belong to a group on flickr devoted to subway photography and not a single other person is shooting these, but I admit I was also a little relieved. His comment about cheating makes sense to me as well since these have always been my sneaky way of making abstract paintings without ever having to learn how to paint or face my fear of the dreaded blank canvas.

Anyway, go check him out, Jacques Villegle is a French institution and completely worth taking the time to navigate his nutty website. He even has a contact button so now I have to go brush up on my French and figure out what to say to the man who more or less invented what I do, I’m not sure, “Hello Daddy!” will translate with the right intent.