Le Vieux Carré

That these images might come from anywhere--like this one, in rural France... Le Vieux Carre. A man in a beret, sitting in front of the hearth, maybe with Alfonse (his old beagle) close alongside. But why the high chair in the foreground? And no fire? Maybe a sculptor's table--everything covered with dust...a clay studio, like the older art student in the hallway at school yesterday evening, elaborate tattoos prominent, on back and neck above a black t-shirt, swatch of clay on her upper arm... And the dried flowers--the ones in the bell jar on the table behind--or is it a votive figure, next to the old cross, like something out of Bernanos... And the man himself, equally unreal--carved full size from life--or is it just the light, the layers of dust, the scattered closeness, the revelations of age...