" It is thanks to this place that I developed an eye, an imagination, " recalls Christian Louboutin. The choice of the Palais de la Porté Dorée to host the exhibition L'Exhibition (niste) , which is devoted to it, owes nothing to chance. The place has an initiatory value in the trajectory of the shoe maker, who discovered it when he was ten years old. Until then, he only escaped from his 12th native district during a vacation in Saint-Malo. Strolling through the art deco rooms, the curious teenager discovers the prows of dugout canoes, vili statues and Benin bronzes. From all these immobile journeys arises an irrepressible desire to travel the world ... and to create.
Read also: Christian Louboutin: "I dream of fitting the Queen of England and the Pope"
It was, moreover, between the walls of the Palais de la Porte Dorée that the idea of drawing " shoes " germinated, at the sight of an ordinary sign: a funny shoe with red bars. " My obsession stems from this drawing ... founding, " writes Christian Louboutin on a sketch. It was not until later, seeing Kim Novak perched on high heels in Cold Sweats , that he understood that what he had taken for a dream does indeed exist. And since according to him " everything starts with a drawing ", he frantically connects the sketches.
Sketch of the panel that triggered Christian Louboutin's "obsession" for shoes. Christian Louboutin
Repeated visits to the Golden Gate permeate his creations. A mackerel skin model recalls the bright fish from the tropical aquarium in the basement, the pair " Puebla " the trapezoidal patterns of Aztec art and the pair " Bamboo " the sashiko , Japanese embroidery technique. As for the golden heels of the spectacular “ Heaven and Earth ” boots, they were sculpted and painted by the royal workshops of Bhutan.
The reinterpretation of Andy Warhol's “Thoughts” by Christian Louboutin. Marc Domage
Besides traveling, painting is an inexhaustible source of inspiration. Mondrian's color grids are reproduced on a platform pair. It is by imitating the thoughts of Andy Warhol that Christian Louboutin has declined in several colors the same pump decorated with a flower. To give the whole a chromatic unity, the shoe designer has the idea of covering the black of the sole with red. It will now be his signature.
Works of art
Among the dozens of pairs exhibited in the “ Treasure Room ”, several look like works of art. Some models seem to defy the laws of gravity. A soft pompom serves as a heel to an elaborate pump while trimmings. In another creation, the foot is certainly flat but perched on a huge square platform. On a disturbing installation by the Pakistani artist Imram Qureshi, a pair of golden shoes is stained with purple splashes.
On this installation by Imram Qureshi, a pair of golden shoes is stained with purple splashes. Marc Domage
" Fetish ", a room that is prohibited for children under 16, then shows the collaboration between Christian Louboutin and David Lynch, presented for the first time in 2007. In the photographs taken by the filmmaker, naked women are holding shoes - in their hands, because these creations have in common to be importable. Here, two Siamese pumps are sewn to each other by the upper. There, nails dart the insole. A model is arched sharply, almost vertically. Rid of its prosaic function, the shoe is elevated to the rank of a work of art.
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Pump exposed in the Marc Domage room
The ultimate exhibition hall, the “ Imaginary Museum ” of Christian Louboutin brings together objects drawn here and there, both from the collections of the Palais de la Porte Dorée and from private collections. This " Personal Pantheon " in the shape of a cabinet of curiosities brings together a Aztec warrior, Widgewood porcelain, a Gandhara Buddha, a photograph of James Bidgood, ceramic vases, and of course Andy Warhol's Flowers , again and again him. For the layman visitor, the link between these works with the footwear creation work is probably not obvious. But through this selection is outlined the personality of a jack of all trades, with abundant imagination and curiosity without borders. A Rimbaldian artist, perched on his soles of wind ...
Christian Louboutin - The exhibition (niste)
Exhibition “L'Exhibition (niste)”, from February 26 to July 26 at the Palais de la Porte Dorée.
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