Ah… Paris
Paris, France… “A tamed and familiar land, as comfortable as an old espadrille” or perhaps not, as Graham Robb suggests in his recently released history, Discovering France. At the heart of the locale exists a fundamental paradox where the place’s perceived appearance – formed by generations of tourists savouring cafes, charcuteries and connoisseurship – belies its rawness and grunt, the latter being the France of discovery by earlier explorers and travelers.
At what point though does one shift from the stages of explorer, traveler and tourist to beyond, to become woven into a place’s fabric? It is a question underpinning Wendy Sharpe’s enquiry in her current body of paintings, Paris.
– Courtney Kidd, 2008
