Cardinal points

2022
Oil on canvas
39 x 32 in

In an exotic neo-bohemian-style contemporary living room, dominated by midnight blue, almost black, with bright red accents, a young redhead with a vaguely mocking look is sitting on a rattan and scarlet leather sofa. She stares at us with a half-smile. In her right hand is a cigarette, in her left a cocktail. At her feet, on the yellow carpet, a black cat, red collar with medal and enthusiastic tail, stares out of the frame, eyes fixed and ears pricked up. He has spotted something, a bird, a ghost or an insect.

On a rattan coffee table, a bottle of rum labelled «Clément» (the emblematic Martinique rum), a glass of ti'punch, a packet of «Pure cane Martinique» brown sugar, a red lighter, a packet of cigarettes and a blue terracotta ashtray.

On a small caned sideboard sits a portrait of a much-loved and clearly domesticated great tit, and a pot of red tropical flowers.

In the background, on the dark wall, a large painting illuminates the living room. It shows a woman in a tropical jungle dotted with red fruit and birds. In her open hand, a red Cardinal has landed.

The two women, far apart geographically, at opposite points of the compass, are nevertheless close because they are similar, linked by their love of birds. The Red Cardinals, the points of the compass.

It's about the difficulty of coping with urban life, nostalgia for travel and «exotic» places. The desire to reconnect with nature by trying to bring it home (paintings, decoration, plants, materials, animals...). Caribbean drinks and tropical-style furniture to take the edge off the dullness and coldness of the metropolis. And the contemporary paradox of owning a predatory cat when you love birds and work to protect them.