California Mammalia

A blue ocean coast under California sunlight. Eucalyptus perfume filling the air. A colony of wild green parrots in San Francisco Pacific Heights. Butterflies getting high on white sunlight and nectar from gorgeous and mega pompons of heavy flowers. All kinds of red carnations around The Golden Gate Bridge. The Gold Rush. American confidence and functionality. Marble lions getting lazy in front of the Golden Gate villas. Solar power on roofs. A wind turbine of the noisy slogan “Who controls the future, controls the present.” Schwarzenegger’s California.

The Tenderloin District is the heart of San Francisco. Empty and exhausted buildings and homeless tired crowd everywhere... certainly not a Hockney painting, nor O’Keeffe’s fertility of flowers. “Just a kind of blue” like Miles Davis used to play here in local bar…

Photo: Annie Leibovitz, California Baby!

- Dr. Nobel, is the Tenderloin the same as a Chateaubriand steak?

- Rather a soup kitchen or a bread line close to the Cadillac Hotel! I regret they don’t have that private furrier anymore! Winter in SF can be really cold. Homeless crowd everywhere...

Gambling life with "Care but Not Cash" political slogans? Three of the largest San Francisco homeless shelters: Next Door, Hamilton Family Center, Multi-Service Center South are full.

Police officers flirting with Tessie Wall girls. And then SAGE. The soft underbelly of young prostitutes, “lady-loins, tender-loins”. Nobody knows origins of the name of this Tenderloin District in the heart of San Francisco. Street-dwelling alcoholics, the Wine Country still confused. Skin rash, eye infection, Kikki Smith’s naked organs. Not men or women yet, just prostitutes. They clean themselves while eating next to a pancake café; they prefer sugar to plain water. No tourists around?

The cruelty of the Californian Tenderloin free clinic. No soap. No toilet paper. No tampons. Maybe tomorrow. Fear- and disease-generating basements. A spider’s unprotected silk egg sac. A dirt bag. Homeless crowd of California Mammals, as Louise Bourgeois would call them. Homeless ghosts in the richest state of gold predators. Homelessness is the heart of The Golden City of San Francisco.

But you can still buy delicious homemade thick-cut French toasts, buttermilk spiced with ginger and cinnamon, maple syrup, cappuccino "mousse" at Dottie’s Blue Café. Tenderloin here is not a Chateaubriand steak, not a Hockney oil either. Not a gold rush anymore. Just a rash. Mr. Newsom, how many bars of gold would that cost... the healing process of the Tenderloin District?

Le vrai cul du diable

The exhibition of huge red sculptures by Anish Kapoor: “Blood stick”, "Drip", "Ishi's light" or the gigantic sophisticated golden phallic dildo exposed at the Palais des Papes in Avignon. Is it a sex toy for a Pope? Kapoor's political proposition in response to the troubles of the Catholic Church? Promoting the "Good Vibrations" products among the bishops?

I’m not sure if comparing Anish Kapoor to Brancusi should make him feel flattered, but Jean de Loisy compliments him tremendously by classifying his work as – “le vrai cul du diable”.

Yes, Kapoor's red sculptures make my mind face the discrepancy between what I know and what I acknowledge having felt. The sensation of being simultaneously present and absent. Limitless suggestions. Central void inside. Like traveling through wild Asia without specific destination. My subconscious starts leaking. Invasive and disturbing masterpieces. Superior seductiveness that I'm not sure to want to embrace...

Sotheby’s hostess in turquoise tulle, like the Parrish blue kind of blue

“Waiting” with Amos Oz at the mahogany bar at the St. Regis in New York, sipping sweet ‘n’ oily Grand Marnier in front of red-painted court jesters. The majestic wall painting “King Cole” by Maxfield Parrish. Storm in town, Tuesday evening traffic jam, Moroccan taxi driver cursing at his Indian fellow driver! Manhattan is getting nervous. Too many helicopters in the air. Another Obama visit.

The Sotheby’s Art Auction House on the Upper East Side. Founded in 1744...

Sotheby's Auction of Art, NYC

Why is Jean Baudrillard constantly confusing art itself and the business of art? Many people prefer to invest their money in art instead of the stock market. Up to a 57% return on investment if you buy an artist like Warhol. The evening auction went beyond my expectations. Of the 53 works by blue-chip artists on offer, the sales transactions totaled $190 million. Ford sold his violet Warhol “Self Portrait” for $32.6 million (above its $15 million high estimate). You can't call it the "advent of banality"...

”Art has lost all desire for illusion.” Yes, but this is great news for investors, Professor Baudrillard... And we could always hire more of hostesses in mini black silk, turquoise tulle, Coco Chanel bows around the neck and high heels with red bottoms... It’s called the superior seductiveness of art by Christian Louboutin, Professor... Toxic love à la intensity of turquoise poison extracted from cobalt salts... Evening auction in Parrish blue. High ROI guaranteed...

”The Conspiracy of Art” by Jean Baudrillard, Sotheby’s Auction of Contemporary Art. New York

Aerodynamics of love in Shanghai at 7 spoonfuls of sugar

Cognitive sciences, new cybernetics, aerospace engineering, re-design, spaceflights for fun... It’s never been easier balancing aesthetics and engineering. How can you have doubts about the future of human civilizations? Despite the permanent dehumanization of human beings and the tyrannical agenda of certain fanatics, we run no risks. There are no obstacles to being playful with science. No love restrictions. Even China's talking - about peaceful exploitation of aerospace to ensure aero-security - doesn’t make me nervous...

Back to basics. My grandmother, suffering from advanced cardiovascular disease, was constantly stealing chocolate from kids and loading her cup of tea with 7 spoonfuls of sugar. Now, Yoko teaches me how to eat more sugar with nouveau parfum de Pierre Hermé, the famous Parisian pastry chef. Brilliant Japanese architects addicted to fine pastry à la crème Chantilly looking for a French "salon du chocolat" in China. Just around the corner.

World Expo 2010 Shanghai - spectacular architectural event (?). Finally it's all about the luxury of balancing art aesthetics and engineering. The Tadao Ando Maritime Museum on the Saadiyat Island, the Green Wave Tower by A-cero, the Batumi Aquarium in Georgia, the Opera House in the desert of Dubai, the Abu Dhabi Louvre or Guggenheim, the Callebaut’s Lilypads... or the Galactic Suite, the Hybrid Marine Soliloquy or the Wally Hermès Yacht... Realization of these projects proves that finally human beings can enjoy fantastic relief from themselves. Today's - faster and beautifully designed - freedom of the human imagination makes me smile...