Black and white

Arachne and I went to Peyriac de Mer today for the biennial art exhibition, previously described here and here. They are pretty good at varying it, there were only a couple of artists I recognised from previous visits. I recognised one artist for other reasons: it was Christopher, our friend in a neighbouring village. He had decided to go full-on-brutal, exhibiting only his angry men in chalk: a big triptych facing visitors as they came in. Some people came in and walked straight out again. I could not resist this blip of an appropriately dressed visitor.

We spent well over two hours wandering round the village, bumping into a couple of other people I knew. Half the pleasure is in the beautiful houses and gardens in which the artists' work is exhibited. Some of the art is fairly indifferent, but the two sculptors of wood were standouts for me. Interestingly both emphasised how you can't do what you want with wood: you have to follow the grain (they were both working with fairly hard woods such as olive, box, and walnut). I loved the way they'd found meaning in the natural shapes the wood made.

Afterwards we drove home along my favourite road, the D611 aka the autoroute des Corbières, passing a convoy of seriously vintage cars (as in a century old) with appropriately dressed occupants. In the evening, to O Mazette for tapas and wine in the garden. Our first time this year sitting out after dark on a balmy evening, the frogs croaking to tell us it is summer.