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JOHFRA DURING HIS FINAL YEARS,
IN HIS STUDIO ABOVE GALERIE LA LICORNE.
Notice the grey underpaintings to his left,
waiting their color layers.
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WITCHES SABBATH I (1977)
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PARIS - SPRING 2003
9 PAGE ARTICLE
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Standing alone in the studio where Johfra painted for the last twenty five years, I see on the easel an unfinished landscape, its grey underpainting still to be glazed. On the table lie his sketchbooks and journals, his brushes and paints. And on the shelf nearby repose optical instruments and animal skulls, twisted tree trunks and geometric figures. Among them stands a bust of Michelangelo. Meanwhile, on the walls are Da Vinci prints and a photo of Dali. I take in each object, decyphering its signifigance.
Right next to the studio, through a low curtained doorway, lies the small dark bedroom where he slept. It is crowded with books, many of which I recognize. To my delight, he even has the same comic books and monster magazines I read as a child.
What is this strange desire in artists - to reach out and seek the source of the images? Had I met Johfra when he was alive, would that meeting have explained the images any better? (Did his meeting with Dali in 1959 explode the enigma of Dali’s works?)
All we are left with is the silent dialogue which unfolds between one artist’s work and another’s.
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