Cannes woman waiting to cross with treasure

BACKGROUND VOICES

CANNES WOMAN WAITING TO CROSS WITH TREASURE
CRITIC: This is a piece which immediately makes its mark. She’s making a clear statement about herself and as an image she looks like material for a city monument. Perhaps in a small regional and rather anonymous French city?
PAINTER: I was in the back seat of a car, ambling down la Croisette in Cannes, you know, the promenade, and noticed this amazing woman approaching the crossing, imperious with her treasured Jack Russell.
MRS EVERYMAN: There’s something a bit funny about that dog, as if it’s on wheels and not an actual live pet.
PAINTER: Yes, you’re right there. I wanted a combination of the idea of her treasured object, like a piece of jewellery or an accessory, and the dog as a natural symbol.
CRITIC: And in this location the dog is the sole representative of nature, just as the woman is the only human. Going back to the statuesque idea, is the barrenness of the backdrop a significant feature?
MRS EVERYMAN: It all looks very depressing, like Blackpool on a wet Sunday in January.
PAINTER: Well, you’ve both picked up on something there. The atmosphere is very urban and mundane still, showing that it’s hard for her to change her city habits, but the blue chairs, a reference to the seaside promenade at Cannes, are a splash of colour from a remembered past, hence the suggestion of light in the sky, lost in a misty long ago. Her remaining ‘treasure’ is her one and only comfort in the present.
MRS EVERYMAN: Poor girl! And with those glasses she looks half blind into the bargain.
PAINTER: Yes. I wanted there to be a hint of physical blindness in the facial pose to mean that she is symbolically blind to everything else bar her treasured pet.
CRITIC: And that pose is also highly stoical. Although not conventionally attractive, her raised chin gives her an athleticism and sense of power, like a modern stoic.
MRS EVERYMAN: I hope she’s looking where she’s going with that chin in the air and isn’t about to get run over as she crosses….
PAINTER: Well, that road with its curve or twist, is more a suggestion of future twists of fate on her journey through life. And with her strong constitution she’s more than prepared for these and unafraid of challenges ahead.