The steppe wolf

The steppe wolf 

huile sur toile, 30 x 24 cm. Coll. particulière

Pierre Labille, admirateur de Martial Raysse 

Pierre Labille, an admirer of Martial Raysse Pierre Labille is the childhood friend who organized my first meeting with Martial Raysse. In 2014, a retrospective of this great painter was held at Beaubourg, and I was struck by a monumental painting entitled “The Two Poets.” We see a fragment of this painting in the background. Fascinated, the idea crossed my mind to make a film with Martial Raysse in front of this painting. Two years later, thanks to Pierre, I met him at an exhibition of his drawings, and I bluntly presented him with the idea. I knew he didn’t like being filmed much, but to everyone’s surprise, he agreed. The director of Beaubourg gave me access to the painting kept in the reserves and granted me its use for an entire day in a room lit by daylight. That’s where I shot a 45-minute film that still delights me, as Martial is present in the image and possesses a valuable authority on his work and painting in general: “Martial Raysse in front of the Two Poets.” Later, Pierre gave me two small blank canvases and suggested I paint one for him. That’s this painting. We see Pierre and Martial on the “set” of the shoot, in front of “The Two Poets”… When I showed it to Martial, he exclaimed, “Ah, the steppe wolf!” Hence its title.