Bastille artist gay
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Artwork by BASTILLE
The artist Bastille was born Frank Webber in Hackensack, NJ on 14th July 1929. He was adopted by a wealthy NJ family and raised in Westwood, NJ. He studied illustration at Pratt Institute and in 1955 moved to Paris on scholarship to study metal engraving with John Friedlander. Commencement in New York and later in Europe he worked as a fashion illustrator. Later he developed a thriving business as an architectural illustrator, which remained his principal occupation for the rest of his life. In the ’60s, he published some drawings of cyclists in small American physique magazines under the name “Bal.” In the ’80s he took the name Bastille because he was born on Bastille Day and was then living close the Place Bastille. At this time he started to produce the unreal gouache paintings for which he is known. His work regularly appeared in the early, and top, issues of TOY and Mr. SM, published by Michael Holm.
Cited influences on his work have been the writers Jean Genet, William Burroughs, and Pierre Guyotat, and the artists Nigel Kent, Paul Cadmus, Rex, and the preliminary work of Andy Warhol (probably his go
Paris unveils a memorial to LGBTQ victims of Nazi regime and other persecutions
A memorial to the long-ignored gay victims of the Nazi regime and to all LGBTQ people persecuted throughout history has been unveiled in Paris on Saturday.
The monument, a massive steel star designed by French artist Jean-Luc Verna, is located at the heart of Paris, in public gardens next to to the Bastille Plaza. It aims to fulfill a duty to retain and to clash discrimination, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said.
“Historical recognition means saying ‘this happened’ and ‘we don’t hope it to occur again,’” Hidalgo said.
Describing the sculpture that looks like a big star wand lying on the ground, Verna, a visual artist who also is a LGBTQ rights activist, said: “There’s a black side in front of us, forcing us to remember. ... At certain times of the day, it casts a drawn-out shadow on the ground, evoking the dangers looming over, sadly.”
The other side of the celestial body, silvery, reflects the sky. It represents “the color of time passing, with the Paris sky moving as adv as public belief, which can alter at any moment,” Verna said.
Historians estimate between 5,000 and 15,000 people were deported througho
“&” (Ampersand)
Dan Smith has extended been a storyteller. The London-based singer-songwriter has spent the years since founding Bastille in 2010, originally as a solo plan, writing moving, anthemic songs about a cast of characters traversing everything from the people killed in the volcanic ruins of “Pompeii” to the tragic fall of “Icarus.” On Bastille’s fifth album, &, Smith reaches the apex of his storytelling songwriting, composing 14 tracks entirely about historical figures. “I’ve always used someone else’s story to write about the themes I yearn to address in my music,” he tells Apple Music. “Now, I’ve calm these story songs to celebrate a group of people who pushed against the times they lived in and who displayed all the complexities of being human.” From softly picked guitar-led folk on “Emily & Her Penthouse in the Sky,” celebrating the poet Emily Dickinson, to the cinematic strings of “Essie & Paul,” honoring the lives of civil rights activists Paul and Essie Robeson, and the anthemic thump of Leonard Cohen tribute “Leonard & Marianne,” & is Bastille at its most imaginative and expansive. “I wanted to show these historic
SINGING 1996 : Laureate
French bass-baritone Paul Gay studied with Robert Dumé and Kurt Moll. He has established himself as a very reliable artist on significant european scenes and festivals. His even and adv conducted voice, his matchless legato, and his abilities to vocalize makes him an ideal interpret for belcanto. His voice's range and power allow him to sing some dramatic roles like Golaud, Amfortas, or Gounod"s Mephisto.In 2006 Paul Gay made a successful debut at the Bastille Opera in Martinus Juliette and his Wagner debut as Klingsor in Parsifal at the Frankfurt Oper which received unanimous critical acclaim. In 2007, he was Kolenaty in The Makopoulos Case at the Bastile, in Toulouse for Le Roi d'Ys from Lalo, and Toulon for Friar Laurence (Roméo et Juliette-Gounod). He just sang Gounod's Mephisto in Bordeaux and Yvonne, a world Premiere from Ph. Boesmans at the Bastille Opera, Vienna and Brussels with great success as well as a recent production of Lulu (Athlete) staged by P.Stein at the Opéra de Lyon. In 2010 he was Harasta and Mr Flint in Billy budd at the Bastille, Escamillo in Toronto and Bordeaux, Henry VIII in Anna Bolena in Frankfurt .
2011 will see him in Munich's
Paris gets memorial for gay victims of persecution
The city of Paris on Saturday inaugurated a memorial consecrated to people persecuted for being queer during the Second World War but also "throughout history", mayor Anne Hidalgo said.
The three-ton installation was erected proximate the Bastille in central Paris to mark International Morning against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia.
"Recognition means to say 'this happened' and to say 'we don't want this to happen again'," Hidalgo said.
"We must struggle against denial and trivialisation," she said, adding: "Today there are powerful and extremely dangerous headwinds that would enjoy to deny this kind of diversity."
The monument, by creator Jean-Luc Verna, consists of an huge star-shaped structure made of steel.
Unlike cities like Sydney, Barcelona or Amsterdam, Paris rejected incorporating the yellow star that Nazis made Jews wear in the installation.
This, officials said, was to permit current victims of persecution to be included in the tribute.
"It is vital that this memorial be not just a simple symbolic tribute, but a transmission tool, a public act of recognition and a space for questions about past discrimination