Charlotte adores poppies, mirrors, shadowplay, highs and lows, modesty tinged with uncertain choices—and yet she writes, sings, draws, photographs, almost apologizing for not being her father. For Ever Charlotte. This screenprint captures a piece of her: a disciplined elegance and a madness she fully embraces…
The Charlotte poster is available in the art shop, iprinted on 250g Fedrigoni Oldmill Bianco paper, in a 50 x 70 cm format. Limited edition of 100 copies, signed and numbered by Zig. Hand-printed at the Dezzig workshop, this art screenprint uses three matte colors and layering effects with red ink.
Inspired by a photograph by Lachlan Bailey for Vogue, in which Charlotte is shown in an Yves Saint Laurent lace corset, the illustration reveals a black silhouette, ink stains beneath portraits hidden within the folds of her dress. These drips, Serge had inadvertently left on the portrait for Amours Des Feintes. This screenprint thus becomes almost a family album, where the lineage of Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin has long intrigued me. How to capture Charlotte if not by drawing from her heritage—a delicate strangeness all her own? And so, the man with the cabbage head became the woman with the poppy head (her favorite flower), and the Gainsbourg family circle was completed a hundred times.
At her concert at the Art Rock Festival in Saint-Brieuc on June 8, 2019, everything was set for me to unveil the screenprint to Charlotte during her press conference. However, after the event was canceled, it was Emilien, her manager, who graciously stepped in, making it possible for me to offer it to her. With deep emotion, she shared these words with me: “Thank you very much, I’m very touched.” A few months later, by a twist of fate, another unexpected encounter awaited me: three years after creating the Serge & Jane screenprint, I finally met Jane Birkin at a concert in Lanrivain. She kindly dedicated the screenprint for me, taking the time to exchange a few words. Yet, within the Gainsbourg family and in Jane’s eyes, there lies a mystery, full of inexhaustible myths, an unassuming simplicity, and an infinite sadness.
“There are moments when I’m quite pretty and moments when I’m quite ugly, but who cares! I just regret that it mattered so much in my life. As for my father, his intelligence and musicality, that kept me from writing for a long time. But today, things have changed.” Charlotte Gainsbourg
While listening for hours to her sublime album Rest, I immersed myself in her dark side. It was like entering a painful intimacy, letting myself be carried away by her melodies, channeling her style, tinged with red and black, then lying beside her on the paper. Yet, I know well that I will never be the only one to love Charlotte with such impudence.
Read also:
Art Rock. Il réalise une affiche collector pour Charlotte Gainsbourg
Sreenprint poster Serge & Jane, 25 years
Mike Harvey loves Gainsbourg, nor do I…
Screenprint poster Charlotte Gainsbourg is available in the artshop
Article et photos by Stéphane Constant © 2019 Dezzig
