“My close friend and gallery owner Barbara Polla was a great help…  I have to say this project was a very personal one.” – Kris Van Assche, December 2009.

The creation of A#7 was a very personal journey for Kris Van Assche, a project he shared with close friends and like-minded artists and creatives. Today we present the third in a series of contributions to A BLOG written by Barbara Polla, a gallerist and author who travels alongside Kris in discovering new and beautiful ways of seeing art and the wider world. Our thanks again to Barbara for her willing and harmonious contributions to our story.

*                        *                       *

Kris Van Assche has a hummingbird drawn on his arm. Once we were visiting together Jeremy Deller’s show at the Palais de Tokyo (http://www.palaisdetokyo.com/deller/index.html<http://www.palaisdetokyo.com/deller/index.html>  ) and talking… and Kris inspired by what we were looking at explained me that art requires freedom – without freedom you can’t see art – it’s like the hummingbird, the bird has to be free to nurture himself in the heart of flowers, told Kris pointing to his tatoo. It is this very moment, this association of thoughts and images that gave birth toPicaflor (hummingbird in the language spoken in Buenos Aires, one of Kris Van Assche’s city of the world.) Picaflor ? The word itself sounds like a thorn, like a difficulty. The difficulty to getting closer and closer to beauty in our everyday life, a difficulty that requires constant efforts, attention, and humility. We must dare to choose freedom: the hard way but the only one to nurture our soul.

The bird is also a symbol of freedom, freedom of the soul liberating itself from the body, a symbol for transfiguration for the Egyptians, or, according to Freud, an analogy for erection – unless being caged. From childhood with caged birds (as drawn by the Andrea Mastrovito, in the context of a long lasting artistic friendship) to the hummingbird on Kris’ arm, free to fly away any time, a continuous search for freedom and meaning.

After Hyères, last spring, this winter, starting January 26, 2010, you will find, in the the Galeries des Galeries, the gorgeous showroom of the Galeries Lafayette in Paris, as in a wild urban meadow, a dozen flowers, perched on stalks like orchestra tripods, like waders – geometrical flowers, warrior flowers, robot flowers, made out of mirrors in which you can see the reflection of the outside world. And in the heart of the corolla of these mysterious flowers, you will discover the virtual and sensorial images, sounds and smells that nurture Kris Van Assche’s inspirations.

Kris Van Assche’s ability to constantly renew his inspirations and creations translates into the presentation of a “second type” Picaflor : same essence, new inspirations, novel images, ongoing creation…

To see Barbara’s gallery please click here.

A BLOG curated by welcomes the second in a series of contributions by Analix Forever gallerist and author Barbara Polla, a close collaborator with A#7′s curator, Kris Van Assche. Thanks again to Barbara for her inspired words.

*                      *                     *

Kris Van Assche is a stylist and an artist. At first sight, a very fashionable position : many stylists, at one point or another of their career, develop an artistic production. Many of them become photographers, others produce objects that are, in some way or another, an artistic representation of their creative word as a whole – such as Walter Van Beirendonck for example. (http://www.paris-art.com/marche-art/2357/Van%20Beirendonck-Walter/2995.html )

There is though something very special about Kris Van Assche as an artist – I won’t talk about his installations, just show them, Poet on Strike, at Analix Forever in May of 2009 – no, that specific KVA touch is the presence with him, or his presence with, other artists. One could nearly think of Kris Van Assche as a gallerist, or a prince, the type of those who invite artists to show their work for delight, for beauty and for joy, as they are aware that life without art is just not the kind of life they feel worthwhile.

About one year ago, Kris Van Assche invited Andrea Mastrovito to invade the Dior Homme boutique at Rue Royale in Paris. Freedom for the artist is the secret. Not only did Mastrovito invent a very special world for the boutique, but the two men became close friends and continue to work together. They are born the same day and showed at Analix Forever the day after their birthdays this last May : a mural sculpture for Mastrovito, and Poet on Strike for Kris Van Assche.

At Hyères, in April, where Kris Van Assche, as President of the Jury, was invited to present another installation, Picaflor, he again favored the possibility to share the space with another artist, David Casini – who presented a performance entitled This thought crossed my mind – rather than use it all for himself. Artistic collaborations nurture him – and he nurtures the artists. Kris Van Assche and David Casini : encounter of the third type between artist and designer, in the “far away interior” of a fifth dimension in which even time gets lost.

The story continues… and beginning January 26, Kris Van Assche will present his next exhibition at the Galerie des Galeries in Paris along with the American artist Matt Saunders ( http://www.lesitedelevenementiel.com/kris-van-assche-sexpose-avec-picaflor-aux-galeries-lafayette/). Free and dedicated to both art and fashion, in distinct though aesthetically parallel paths, Kris Van Assche is a stylist among the stylists, and an artist among the artists.

Kris Van Assche has been known to take an unconventional approach to his advertising campaigns [as we will discover more of later in the month], and for the current season imagery he has opted for an illustrated narrative rather than a photographic portfolio.

For Fall Winter 2009, Kris Van Assche commissioned Italian artist Andrea Mastrovito to realise his collection as one man’s journey through a natural and built environment, in black and white pencil drawings on A4 paper. Tethering the sun like a balloon on a kite-string, fighting with serpents in the forest, chased by black bats in the city, and leafing through a newspaper as flowers blow away on pages in the breeze – Kris’s character is a wandering man, toying with nature as it plays with him too.

In the illustrations, Mastrovito depicts the travelling muse wearing long cotton shirts, wrapped coats and a hooded cape, dark blazers, hi-top sneakers and boots from the runway collection. With messy cropped hair, a beard and moustache, he is masculine and somewhat wild – though with a disheveled elegance to his outfits that speaks Kris’s aesthetic with purity and ease. There is even a baseball cap thrown in for good measure.