Going out, wandering
about downtown, walking around and maybe pay Louise
Ragot a visit, always that dimlit place, Ragot's Art
Deco looking den, of what once breathed like life and
love, however now it's just a dimlit den of sorts. Delightful
art clocks, Pop Art paintings and the old record player
handsomely showcased in the solid wood and veneer cabinet.Fancy!
At Ragot's there's always the chance of hearing the
door bell ring and one of her After Midnight friends
showing up for a free psychotherapy session. Urgent
cognitive-behaviour techniques with the After Midnight
intervention secret resources of Lady Ragot. Besides
the Pop Art small size paintings of her art collection,
five oils on canvas signed Antonio Pessoa, (A Pessoa!),
among a carefully curated selection of elegantly framed
Nude Art photography. It's the new city, the Now town,
the After Midnight twilight zone, the time of the eternal
open relationships, the kinky preferences network, tasteful
mysterious moves, and "professional" lifestyle...
bizarre and sometimes even stimulating! Oh my God, the
artist told me, that night at 5:30 a.m. he stumbled
upon Nadine, a silent night angel, blonde and freezing
and dressed to kill.Smashing! She didn't have much to
say, so he told me with that peculiar smile on his face.
She was like three personalities in one or at least
he thought so or maybe that's what she pretended, in
a silent ultimate effort to make him believe that behind
the apparently dull looking doll there might as well
be the inner special one. Give me a break! Furthermore
the four things she told him she liked actually sounded
absolutely unspeakable. So what? What did he expect?
After Midnight, the weird designed ride! When yoy think
you actually can do whatever you want... I suppose something
the artist always wanted to believe was true. And then,
what? The Chinese Restaurant! Pessoa goes in, there's
nobody in the big exotic room but the cook... it's almost
6 a.m. and he tells him "Too late, we close, no,
we no see girl of yours, no more ask please..."
Another bar, and he told me later what had just crossed
his mind. True love! Sometimes you know it the instant
you see it across the bar. However, and I truly believe
him, there was no one there but the same old bald wrinkled
bartender. Really amazing, inspiring awesome surrealism.
After all, it seems After Midnight's twilight zone can
set his imagination free.Blind faith, I told him, because
thinking is hard. However, the artist was already aware
of it... Time goes by. So here comes the night, here
comes the night once again, the After Midnight express
entering the Twilight Zone one more time. Tonight (
must be Wednesday, Thursday... or even Friday... who
cares...), James Babel, one of the artist's regular
art dealers is off to Madrid with no paintings in and
no joy, Boris Dainville is breaking no news from London
town and Louise Ragot is nowhere to be seen, let alone
reached. Antonio Pessoa tells me over the phone about
his "nerve-shattering" negotiations (in a
manner of speaking ) with Maxwell Armstrong and Sylvia
Abbot. He tells me sometimes he feels he would be better
off living in the tropical Canary Islands for good,
after telling the whole godforsaken art business to
get lost. I know he is just overreacting, he says it
but doesn't mean it... or at least deep down inside
I still don't believe he has reached that point of absolute
detachment to actually say goodbye, so long, I've had
it, that dit it and flip-flop and fly away. He tells
me yesterday night he didn't feel like going off to
bed,so he went out for another After Midnight real-life
explorer delicious Let's- see-what-Happens ride on his
own. After a while driving around he goes to the Meditation
Center, managed by Bala Mani, an indian art collector,
a wealthy prematurely retired businessman from New Delhi
who decided to spend the rest of his life providing
others with the wisdom and knowledge of Universal Awareness
and Silent Meditation. One of the After Midnight available
spots the artist loves the most. Open twenty four hours
a day, it provides emotional-support for anyone willing
to experience the mindfullness well-being with the powerful
inspiring easy-to-do methods of deep spiritual relaxation
and cosmic insight. Martin Faber introduces Bala Mani
to the artist back in 2004, during his second art show
in Chicago, IL. However only in the past two years Antonio
Pessoa becomes seriously involved and emotionally ready
and motivated to fully commit himself to the wonderful
universe of inner-self discovery through meditation
daily sessions and self-disciplined rituals. Bala Mani
also becomes one of the artist's regular clients, acquiring
on a monthly basis a significant amount of his latest
New Era contemporary artworks, furthermore coming up
with the concept Timeless Time,which indeed turned out
to become the title of Pessoa's most recent art productions.
Antonio Pessoa reaches his Universal Awareness inner-self
discovery, Supreme Meditation interest,passion and commitment
apotheosis, thereby giving birth to amazing contemporary
fine art wonders such as "Night Gospel", "Living
Joy" , "The Belief Generator" , "Spiritual
Light " , "Free" , "Night Wits "
, "Intuition " , "Mind Explorer ",
"Perception "... just to mention a few. It
makes perfect sense the obvious association of Bala
Mani with the artist's subject mutation, definitely
for much better, very particularly in visual abstract
neo-surrealistic quality. In spite of the fact that
After Midnight doesn't substantially belong to the fine
art series of Spiritual Enlightenment - oriented Oeuvre,
yet, it is nevertheless inspired by a similar persistent
response at this highly emotional relation with life...
or in this particular painting... with nightlife metamorphic
sensorial metaphysics, definitely the role of a wandering
poet across the perceptive mystery of the night time
city outdoors. It's Saturday Night, the Queen of nightlife,
and tonight I keep the artist company, while we talk
about his latest artworks. Actually, I have little interest
in the After Midnight scene, but my main motivation
is to be as much as possible with the artist, my friend
and my work's leading role actor. Being thirty two years
older than him doesn't seem to be important. It never
did and it never will. On the contrary, our chemistry
is incresingly reaching perfection. We have some chinese
for starters, that same exotic restaurant downtown,
at a specific time when we are the only "innocent
bystanders", enjoying our privacy and talking mainly
about art and life. In the mean time we both seem to
be making the most of the great cuisine selection randomly
displayed all over the round table. Spring rolls, Shu
Mai dumplings with pork ans shrimp, Egg Custard tarts,
Chicken Chop Suey, Zodiac noodles, Won Ton soup, Har
Gau... Wow!!!! It seems that the restaurant's owner
whole family (but the cook...) are starring at us from
the far end of the insence smelling exoctic temple.
They don't laugh, they don't smile, they don't talk...
just standing still starring at us with this blank,
emotionless expression on their marble skin faces.Fair
enough. I love the Oriental way, so does Pessoa. Antonio
Pessoa is definitely a different man after midnight
hour. In my opinion the city's nightlife provides him
with an alternate outlook of existence metaphysics.
More non-material, rather sensual, abandonely relaxed,
almost deliciously blue-mooded in his glamorous lonesome
way. A peculiar contrast but true.
