Son of the former French Prime Minister: I have a strong connection with China

streak

2024-04-27 13:03Posted in Anhui Life Field Creator

小伙潘雅德(Arthur de Villepin)

is the son of former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin

(Dominique de Villepin)。

Since he was a child, he has traveled around the world with his father, a diplomat.

Having lived for long periods of time in the United States, India, France, and the United Kingdom,

and got acquainted with Zao Wou-Ki, Kiefer,

Surage, Kang Myung-hee and other art masters.

At the age of 22, he chose to put down roots in Hong Kong.

It has been more than 10 years since I settled.

▲

Teenage Pan Yad (right) and Zao Wou-Ki (left)

Four years ago, he co-founded the gallery with his father.

The opening exhibition is a solo exhibition by "Asia's Most Expensive" artist Zao Wou-Ki

- Zao Wou-Ki and their family are very close friends,

In his later years, he would eat together almost every weekend.

▲

Panyard and his father Dominique de Villepin in front of the works of Anselm Kiefer at the French home

▲

Pan Yad at home in Hong Kong

Pan Yade's home is located on the outskirts of Hong Kong,

It is a duplex mansion with two sun terraces,

You can enjoy nature from almost every angle,

Looking at the water from the living room and the mountains from the bedroom.

"I feel very 'Chinese',

Mountains and rivers give me the power of tranquility."

In March, we arrived at Panyard's home where she lived alone

I chatted with him about his collection and growth story.

自述:潘雅德(Arthur de Villepin)

Contributing Writer: Huang Xirui

Editor-in-charge: Deng Kailei

▲

Zao Wou-Ki (center), painting in the garden, and Panyard's father, Dominique de Panyard (left), and fashion designer Emanuel Ungaro (right)

▲

Zao Wou-Ki and Dominique de Villepin in the paintings

There was a time when Zao Wou-Ki and his wife would come to my house every weekend or holiday, or go to the house in the country with my parents for a party. One of the things that stuck with me the most happened in 2007, when I was about 16 years old.

One weekend, my parents wanted Zao Wou-Ki to paint in the garden next to Versailles with a brush, paint, and paper. At first, he said no, citing the fact that "I've never painted outside." ”

But my father insisted that he try it, and after lunch, he naturally walked over to the table in the garden and began to draw – he painted the garden, the grass and the flowers. I remember looking at the picture and thinking, "What is this?" I saw the green brushstrokes, but I couldn't see the whole garden.

▲

Pan Yade prepares for Zao Wou-Ki's 2023 exhibition "Avenue Wuji" in Hangzhou, 2023

▲

Installation view of Zao Wou-Ki: "The Great Road to Boundless", 2023

It wasn't until many years later, when I had my first exhibition in a gallery in Hong Kong for Zao Wou-Ki, that I opened these watercolors from that year, and I looked at them and suddenly felt like I was back in the garden on the afternoon when I was 14 years old.

It was only then that I understood what Zao Wou-Ki was painting – he was capturing the invisible parts of life, those fleeting moments.

▲

Zao Wou-Ki's work in 1948

Now in my home in Hong Kong, the ritual of welcoming guests is to let everyone enjoy two small paintings of Zao Wou-Ki from different periods, one early and one late, which are very interesting to compare together.

The portrait was created by Zao Wou-Ki in 1948, when he was 28 years old and had just arrived in Paris. I especially like the lines of this painting. The hands are inspired by Matisse, and you can also see a little shadow of Sanyu. This was Zao Wou-Ki's figurative period before he entered abstraction.

▲

Zao Wou-Ki's watercolor works in his later years

The watercolor next to it was painted when he was in his 80s, and you can feel the burst, vitality and beauty of nature. His use of space is completely different from what he used to be.

At the end of his life, he began to paint in nature and fully immersed himself in it. The work also complements the greenery of the home and exterior, with conversations about nature surrounding the space.

▲

At home, Pan Yad shares the story of his collection with Yuru, the owner of an art strip

沙发背后是赵无极于2004年创作的《玛丽·劳尔的鱼(Marie-Laure Fish)》

In the living room is also a Zao Wou-Ki with a fish tank in the picture, which he painted when he was in his 80s. This painting also has a story related to my mother, because the painting is named after my mother, and it is called "Mary Lauer's Fish".

Once, my mom put a lot of small fish tanks with goldfish in them at a state banquet because she wanted to pay tribute to China. Zao Wou-Ki saw the fish bowl and liked it so much that he wanted to bring it back to the studio, and we also have a picture of him holding the fish bowl to take home.

Later he bought a huge fish tank in his studio, when he was in his eighties, and then he started raising and feeding fish in the studio every day, which gave him a great inspiration and painted some works related to it, and this work is one of them.

▲

The living room of Panyard's home

▲

Panyad is on the terrace at home

I moved into this home in 2022 and came to Hong Kong even earlier.

My roots are in Europe, but in a way, I'm also Chinese because I believe in the Eastern way of behaving. I also love the food here, I love the taste of white rice so much that I eat it every day. I hope to find a "nest" where I can rest quietly in Hong Kong, a city of steel and concrete.

▲

The "backbone" of Panyard's house, the olive tree

The first thing that comes to mind when decorating a home is: I want a tree, I want to bring a part of nature indoors.

The olive tree is one of my favorite trees, these trees live for hundreds of years, it represents meditation, healing, honey and teaches me to slow down. It reminds me of all the good times I spent with my family in India, Italy, and a movie called "Lover Under the Olive Tree".

▲

Antiques from Panyard's home

Everything in the house revolves around the tree – an olive-green sofa, a 15th-century long table, antique chairs from Brazil and France, table lamps from Morocco, ceiling lamps designed by Isamu Noguchi, and contemporary artworks...... I wanted to create an atmosphere in my home that was in dialogue with time.

For me, being surrounded by the elements of nature is the most important thing. Home is all about getting rid of the unnecessary and letting the necessary do the talking.

▲

The view of the mountain and the sea from the living room of the Panyard house

▲

The terrace on the first floor of Panyard's home

I feel that I am very "Chinese", I need mountains and water. In this home, I can see the water from the living room and the mountains from the bedroom, which gives me a great, serene power.

▲

A collection of African masks in Panyard's home

The African masks in the house have an interesting family story behind them. My father was born in Africa, so as a child he would often take us to an antique mask shop and ask us, "Which mask do you find the most scary?" and he would buy the mask that scared us the most.

Do you think, oh my God, why would he do this to a child? But the amazing thing is that when you face this mask for a long time, the fear disappears and you feel the spirituality in it.

▲

Panyard in the dining room, the work on the wall behind him is: Mary de Villepin, Like Swimming, 2022

The artworks at home are all created by artists who are very close to me, and some of them are artists who have lived and lived very close to me. The special relationship and bond with the artist is very important to me.

In the dining room, you can see a painting of my sister Mary, which she gave me as a birthday present.

She creates an underwater world in her paintings, where these shapes resemble underwater corals that change their color as the local natural light changes. Mary uses her fingers and brushstrokes, as well as a tool knife. Painting with your fingers gives the painting a kind of power. It is rough and at the same time sensual.

▲

位于楼梯间丹·凡·弗利特(Don Van Vliet)的作品,《Tiger Boat》,1987

When I buy new works, I want to hang them in my house as soon as possible and let them "revolve around me", and my sister used her eye as an artist to help me choose this painting.

The artist is actually known as a musician, but for me, he's more of a painter, and you can see a lot of very bold things in his paintings, full of poetry and musicality.

▲

阿尔弗雷德·沃利斯（Alfred Wallis）, 《Two Sailing Boats and a Lugger》

There is another work that I hold dear very much and that is important to me, and that is this painting by Alfred Wallis. He was one of the first modern painters in England, but he was never a professional painter.

He was very poor and spent his whole life fishing, then picking up some cardboard and stuff on the beach, then returning to his house and starting to draw boats. Looking at these ships, they always remind me that art is not always associated with celebrities, capital.

▲

墙上的作品为:姜明姬,《Red Cabbage Flower》, 2020

This picture of Kang Myung-hee's work and the view outside the window behind it blend almost perfectly, and what we see is a garden full of pristine mountains and trees, not a perfectly decorated garden.

My father has been collecting her for about 25 years, and it seems to be possible to see the wildness of nature in her paintings, without any compromises. She doesn't want you to think it's beautiful, it's raw and almost aggressive.

▲

Pan Yad with Kang Myung Hee in her studio

Actually, when I was a child, I didn't understand her paintings, I just felt that the brushstrokes were scattered everywhere and disorganized. So I took her paintings to the UK to school, and then to Hong Kong.

It took me a long time to realize that what Akihime wanted to express in the painting was the chaos of nature, that imperfection is perfect, and that I was the one who needed to reconcile with perfectionism.

▲

Antique tables and Japanese pottery in Panyard's home

I like to mix old and new, and if an object has been used, it means that it has come to life, and this vitality will be injected into the house and into your life.

▲

The interaction between the staircase and the dining room, the cabinets, the artworks

This old cabinet from Japan was still broken when I bought it, and I repaired it. Zao Wou-Ki's work is placed on it, and the trajectory of the lines in the picture is very consistent with the natural curling arc of the flower next to it.

You can see the way this antique cabinet interacts with the staircase lines, it's all small details, but it's beautiful.

▲

Wood carvings brought back by Panyard from an antique shop in Barcelona

This 15th-century wood carving was bought when my family and I traveled to Barcelona, Spain. It's like a vessel of memory that reminds me of my family.

I'm a very family-loving person, which is probably very similar to the concept of family in Chinese culture, where family supports you and loves you, which gives you the energy to do more.

▲

潘雅德在家中工作,桌子为法国设计师组合Guillerme et Chambron设计,椅子为皮埃尔·让·勒雷(Pierre Jeanneret)设计

I usually sit on this antique table from 1950, which is an antique table made by two French designers, Guillerme et Chambron, and these tough lines look very simple, and you will find that the table only has one leg supporting the side of the table, which is out of the ordinary and interesting.

▲

The two clay flowers on the desk were a gift from Lucy Carroll, wife of the late artist Lawrence Carroll, to Panyard

These two flowers, which are placed on the table, are very precious to me because they were given to me by the wife of the late artist Lawrence Carroll.

Every time I sit at my desk and look at the scenery and the horizon, inspiration flows in a steady stream.

▲

卧室中艺术家劳伦斯·卡罗尔（Lawrence Carroll）的作品，《Untitled (Blue)》，2019

The painting in my bedroom, which can breathe with me in my sleep, comes from the artist Lawrence Carroll. He would make holes in the paintings. "Most people see holes, but what I see is a breathing, living painting," he said. ”

I feel like it's kind of like Chinese architecture, most bridges in the West are straight, but China has winding bridges, which is another way of looking at life.

▲

Panyard's mother, Marie-Laure Viebel, was a sculpture artist

▲

玛丽·劳尔·韦伯（Marie-Laure Viebel），《月亮的孩子（The Moon Child）》

This is a sculpture that my mom made for me, and she called it "Children of the Moon." I think it's cute because you can see a lot of interesting little holes that are reminiscent of the surface of the moon. She made two holes in the stone to bring the whole "moon face" to life, and I loved it.

When I first arrived in Hong Kong, I was 22 years old. A lot of people ask me, "Why are you here?" Why Hong Kong? For me, that's an intuition. As soon as I got here, I knew I wanted to live here and start some business.

I chose art because it was my background and it was natural to me.

▲

On the bookshelf in Panyard's home

▲

In Panyard's bedroom, from left to right: Marie de Villepin's Gift to Panyard, two sculptures by Marie Lauer, Zao Wou-Ki, Ibiza, 2007, Pierre Gesula's Gift to Panyard, Zao Wou-Ki, Vase alabastre 11

It does take some time to become a good collector. Choose the right guide, choose the right advice. In the beginning, I went to museums more and less to auctions. Because first of all, you have to focus on the story, you have to pay attention to the artist.

I've always believed that the biggest misconception people have about art is art and value, and focusing on the value of artists is the real key. If TA's work resonates and tremors with Chinese, Europeans, Americans, 80-year-olds, 20-year-olds, and people two centuries later, it is a valuable artist.

The most important thing is that you want to collect it for yourself. You can collect artists that you might know about, communicate with them, learn about their way of life, and they will make you see things from a completely different perspective.

▲

From left to right: Panyard's mother, Mary Raul Webber, artist Anselm Kiefer, father Dominique de Villepin, and Panyard himself

Anselm Kiefer, for example, often sees him in his works in the form of charred metal, fragmented materials, which seem to be very angry, negative, and even close to death. But if you know his story, you'll know that he's actually celebrating life.

He was born in Germany in 1945, just before the end of World War II. On the day he was born, the entire city was bombed and his family's house was destroyed. He associated destruction with life because this was his life, born out of the ashes.

▲

Panyard at Anselm Kiefer's studio

He himself was actually very happy, almost naïve. He would be generous enough to show me around his studios, one of which was on the outskirts of Paris, as big as an airport. The other one is in the south of France, it's almost like a city, and I think he's like an architect.

▲

Panyard at Anselm Kiefer's "Golden Age" solo exhibition

He made a special piece for my gallery, and the words on the screen are a German ballad about a man riding a bicycle happily in the mountains.

In the golden sky, the charred black is the clouds, which is particularly poetic and beautiful.

▲

Panyad tells us that this photograph of Brassaï is about Picasso and his muse at the time, Dora Maar: she was so sad when Dora's dog died, so Picasso, in order to make her happy, made a dog out of a napkin and comforted her: "Look, you have another dog now".

▲

Panyard with his dog Harley

The key to art is that it makes you a better person. Every collector should understand that they can regain control of their lives by collecting art.

View original image 973K

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Personal opinion, for reference only