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'Stories of O' - "Gorgeous paintings" Skin Two
Gloucestershire based artist Stefan has secured over the past five years a deserved reputation amongst a small number of collectors and devotees for a series of large oil paintings inspired by the French novel Story of O. Borrowing elements from the book Stefan has created a visual narrative richly colored and full of theatrical motifs including burning candles, keys, masks, and draught blown curtains. In darkened rooms and cloistered gardens Stefan has caught his protagonists in freeze-frame and each frame has as its focal point a semi-clad femme enfant with a sharp black 'bob' reminiscent of silent movie star Louise Brooks. Though intentionally erotic nothing is explicit and the viewer is invited to conjure his own interpretation of events, one or two of which are lifted directly from the novel. Stefan first read the book in the 1970's shortly after it was published in Britain for the first time.
| Caroline matching my imaginary "O" at EROTICA 98, Olympia, London, November 1998 |
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Two poems by Dominique Aury from 'Songes' ('Dreams')
Le Fils (The Threads)
The threads which have bound me
Are finer than hairs... I hear complying in silence
The voluntary captive
The speechless the prisoner
Which I hide in my very depths...
O
Les fils qui m'ont attachée
Sont plus fins que des cheveux
Si la main les tire un peu
Qui les a pris à poignée
J'entends répondre sans voix
La captive volontaire
La muette la prisonnière
Que je cache au fond de moi
Son sang me brûle les veines
Des épaules aux genoux
Elle se tait mais c'est nous
Qui perdons ensemble haleine
Si les fils incandescents
Leur réseau de moi détachent
Si l'étreinte se relâche
Par quoi je vais respirant
Je deviendrai cendre éteinte
Scorie poudre et sable au vent
Gravats débris pavement
Sel de gemme asphalte peinte
Pour me renfoncer en terre
Au plus proche au plus commun
Pour que la chaleur des mains
Se refroidisse à la pierre
Et que me marche dessus
Le roi qui m'a caressée
Déchirée brûlée jetée
Vide défaite et rompue.
O
Le Eaux Noires (The Black Waters)
When you advance into my night
You are not you, I am other
This other knows not who I am
You know not that I am your own
We walk on a river bank
Upon a narrow towpath
On the edge of a new dyke
On the high steps of a dam
As far as the plain where great trees
Are reflected in the black waters
As far as the meads where marble gleams
In silence and despair
And I cry without a cry without a word
For night has reclaimed you
The floods have cut the paths
Ah, might I be carried off in the flotsam
O
Three drawings by Stefan:
The Owl Mask 
O & the Valet
O at Roissy (detail)
Louise Brooks ... 
Valentina ...(Crepax)
Stefan:
- Favorite Artists: Picasso, Miro, Bacon, Bellmer, Beckmann, Bonnard, Scott, Lanyon, Hilton, Bellany...
- Most Memorable Exhibitions visited: Miro in Barcelona, Tapies at the Hayward, Beckmann at the Whitechapel, Alan Davie at Gimpel Fils...
- Favorite Music: A lot of things... Beethoven, Mahler, Delius, Sinatra, Miles Davis, Nino Rota, John Barry, Danny Elfman, Doris Day, Astrud Gilberto, Leftfield, Portishead, Garbage, Bjork...
- Favorite Films: Last Year at Marienbad, Psycho, Metropolis, Aguirre-the Wrath of God, The Misfits, The Lion in Winter, Excalibur, Dracula (1958), Star Wars, La Belle et la Bete, Blade Runner, (not necessarily in that order), plus anything directed by Antonioni, and Fellini.
- Favorite TV shows: faint recollections of staying up late to watch A For Andromeda, fond memories of The Avengers (with Emma Peel), Mystery and Imagination (1966-), The Tom Jones Show (when Mireille Mathieu was guest each week!), Postman Pat, Fawlty Towers...
- Favorite Reading: Story of O, The Image ( by 'Jean de Berg' - actually Catherine Robbe-Grillet ), The Magus (John Fowles), Dracula (Stoker), She (H.Rider Haggard), Poe, anything on Picasso... Currently Reading: Women Artists and the Surrealist Movement by Whitney Chatwick.
- Favorite Quote: "The artist goes through states of fullness and emptiness, and that is all there is to the mystery of Art." - Picasso. Also: ..."As in looking at a carpet, by following one color a certain pattern is suggested, by following another color, another; so in life the seer should watch the pattern among general things which his idiosyncrasy moves him to observe, and describe that alone." Thomas Hardy
- Most inspiring Places visited: West Cornwall, Barcelona, a cloister in Gerona, Crete, Stonehenge...
- Most significant Moment: Being given a pencil at an early age and later, a box of oil paints. Going to my first horror movie. Later still, being lent Story of O.
- Most significant Periods in adult Life so far: Art school. Sharing a studio with my then future wife. The last four years...
- More significant Moments: Taking the train from London to West Cornwall to camp and to draw. Watching lambs being born to my own ewes. Beginning the first of the twelve 'O' paintings.
- Long Lost Friend: Simon Scanes.
- Greatest Moment in Life: Seeing my daughter born.
- Greatest Fear: an attraction to making lists...
- O Louise Brooks: "she is the subject of more web sites & more web pages than any other star of the era". Also visit:
- O LOUISE BROOKS SOCIETY (a virtual fan club in cyberspace):
- O Valentina (Crepax): celebrating the Italian comic-strip creation of Guido Crepax.
- O Story of O: the complete read on the net is no longer available at Annabelle's Dungeon :
- O Story of O: the film soundtrack music reviewed:
- O 'O' Dresses. designs based on the film of the book.
- O 'O' Enthusiast: check out Vanna Vechian's interesting pages:
- O Andrea Dworkin on Story of O (1979):
- O Alain Robbe-Grillet: All about the French novelist and film director, - his wife Catherine wrote THE IMAGE:
- O EROTICA UK at Olympia : check out the Erotic Art Gallery!
- O FETISH MARKET: Original drawings by STEFAN can be seen along with other examples of erotic art for sale at the London Fetish Fair.
- O There is a quantity of quality erotic art and photography on the net. Check out photos by Craig Morey at Darksite O
*Update: Story of O the complete read is now at : O
Some more LINKS of interest:
Tate Gallery, London O
Fake Tate Art Gallery (creative and surreal images - take a look) O
Dada & Surrealism Resource (lots of links) O
World Wide Arts Resources O
Fetish art at "Violate" O
Art of Marcus Gray O
Art of Ray Leaning O
Fine Photography of John Dietrich O
Jaap van Deijk's Erotic Art Index O
Erotic Arts Portfolio (Hayward Fine Art prints & postcards) O
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Be creative & draw with passion!
2b CREATIVE
The Most Exciting Life-Drawing Sessions in the UK
'Erotic Oscar' Finalist
Sessions held in Ealing West London
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If you have got this far please proceed to Roissy Gallery: O
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