This First Edition was limited to 250 hand numbered copies signed by the artist. It features 13 Poems based on the artist's paintings by the French Poet Michel Lagrange, along with English translations by Marc de Faoite and an introduction by the artist. The book features 13 full color reproductions of each of the paintings spanning 27 years of work. The original French version of each poem and its English translation are on facing pages.
Mr. Lagrange (b.1941) is an Officer of Arts and Letters in France and Knight of the National Order of Merit.
Si mes deux mains avouent leur tremblement C’est qu’elles ont pris leur envol Et qu’une issue dérobée nous permet La rencontre Autre part ici Dans les oiseaux de ton vocabulaire - If my two hands confess their trembling It is because they have taken flight And a stolen path allows us The encounter Here elsewhere In the birds of your vocabulary
excerpt from "A Letter for You" by M. Lagrange, trans. by M. de Faoite
Tourne en rond le train des possibles Et ma pesanteur condamnée À ne rien percevoir Au-delà de mes yeux
À bout de bras pourtant Je tiens l’oiseau majeur Tirant son vol d’entre mes doigts
Je me refuse à confier mon destin À cet oiseau qui s’impatiente Et rameute à lui l’horizon - The train of possibilities goes round And my gravity is condemned To perceive nothing Beyond my eyes
Yet at arm's length I hold the great bird Tugging its flight from my fingers
I refuse to trust my fate To this impatient bird That rallies the horizon to itself
excerpt from "Contradictory Airs" by M. Lagrange, trans. by M. de Faoite
Déportée Importune Au milieu de la route Elle attend le moment Où la retombée poussiéreuse Laissera place Aux voies lactées
Se souvient qu’elle fut un arbre À l’endroit où elle a été déracinée Avant qu’on n’invente la route
C’est l’instant fabuleux L « il-était-une-fois » des contes Où la raison prend l’eau De toute sa pesanteur ancestrale - Cast out Unwanted In the middle of the road When dusty fallout Gives way To Milky Ways
Remembering being a tree In the spot where it was uprooted Before roads were invented
It is the fabled moment The once-upon-a-time of old tales When reason cracks Under its full ancestral weight excerpt from "The Chair" by M. Lagrange, trans. by M. de Faoite
This First Edition was limited to 250 hand numbered copies signed by the artist. It features 13 Poems based on the artist's paintings by the French Poet Michel Lagrange, along with English translations by Marc de Faoite and an introduction by the artist. The book features 13 full color reproductions of each of the paintings spanning 27 years of work. The original French version of each poem and its English translation are on facing pages.
Mr. Lagrange (b.1941) is an Officer of Arts and Letters in France and Knight of the National Order of Merit.
116 pages
(Read more about this project here)
Si mes deux mains avouent leur tremblement
C’est qu’elles ont pris leur envol
Et qu’une issue dérobée nous permet
La rencontre
Autre part ici
Dans les oiseaux de ton vocabulaire
-
If my two hands confess their trembling
It is because they have taken flight
And a stolen path allows us
The encounter
Here elsewhere
In the birds of your vocabulary
excerpt from "A Letter for You"
by M. Lagrange, trans. by M. de Faoite
Tourne en rond le train des possibles
Et ma pesanteur condamnée
À ne rien percevoir
Au-delà de mes yeux
À bout de bras pourtant
Je tiens l’oiseau majeur
Tirant son vol d’entre mes doigts
Je me refuse à confier mon destin
À cet oiseau qui s’impatiente
Et rameute à lui l’horizon
-
The train of possibilities goes round
And my gravity is condemned
To perceive nothing
Beyond my eyes
Yet at arm's length
I hold the great bird
Tugging its flight from my fingers
I refuse to trust my fate
To this impatient bird
That rallies the horizon to itself
excerpt from "Contradictory Airs"
by M. Lagrange, trans. by M. de Faoite
Déportée
Importune
Au milieu de la route
Elle attend le moment
Où la retombée poussiéreuse
Laissera place
Aux voies lactées
Se souvient qu’elle fut un arbre
À l’endroit où elle a été déracinée
Avant qu’on n’invente la route
C’est l’instant fabuleux
L « il-était-une-fois » des contes
Où la raison prend l’eau
De toute sa pesanteur ancestrale
-
Cast out
Unwanted
In the middle of the road
When dusty fallout
Gives way
To Milky Ways
Remembering being a tree
In the spot where it was uprooted
Before roads were invented
It is the fabled moment
The once-upon-a-time of old tales
When reason cracks
Under its full ancestral weight
excerpt from "The Chair"
by M. Lagrange, trans. by M. de Faoite