Gainsbourg Still Alive

This « total work of art » echoes Gainsbourg’s legend, but also music, photography, poetry, sculpture, drawing and graffiti. For him, singing was a minor art form. The artists of this project have all looked to adopt a point of view and give their own interpretation.

In this framework, Françoise Adamsbaum from Galerie Keza presented Roberto Battistini to Lord Anthony Cahn, who had already drawn from Battistini’s photographical work. Together, they decided to work on the representation of this now mythical wall of the “rue de Verneuil”.

Decency and transgression were two of Gainsbourg’s personality treats. His private mansion was never dull, and the “rue de Verneuil” intends to be the same. Lord Anthony Cahn’s walls intend to reflect and combine the words, the poetry, the lines, the colors, and the depth of the artist’s genius.

Here Lord Anthony Cahn is presenting a series of artworks in which he has engaged his entire self. These “Variations” are the reflection and the incarnation of a myth.

Each wall is provided with an ownership title of the façade of the “rue de Verneuil”. This way, Lord Anthony Cahn offers a piece of something that cannot be bought, a personal evocation of Gainsbourg’s story. Walls embody and capture the breath of an emotion, like a living still life, “still alive, still life”.  

Between intimacy and fame, Gainsbourg left the aura of his legend on this wall. This unique interpretation underlines the communion between the man and his audience. Through this wall, Lord Anthony Cahn conducts a work of contemporary history that profoundly moved him.

His mastery of sculptural material gives his creations a unique style and a characteristic signature.

Lord Anthony Cahn’s practice is rooted in the interpretation of the expressive potential of walls as constitutive elements of our urban and cultural environment. It is the subject he chose to work on to sublimate the unchanging, while kindling emotion, poetry and life.

Anne-Sophie Bordry. 

Translation by Hélène Planquelle.