LAOS, Visions and Reflections


TEXT
Laos, 1994.
Some left, leaving behind a home that soon fell into disuse - roads of history stranded them aside.
Life continued and renewed, as twenty years of absence wilted memories.
I now return to haunt my own house, where cracked walls bear the fated pictures of a once united family, and every day I scrape a mountain of dust to unearth what time has chosen to silence.
The young mother on the boat from Pakbeng sits by my side.
Bored by the silent stories of the river, she approaches my reading, leans over the words, leans over the letters she can not comprehend. Our eyes gaze in tandem until Luang Prabang where our roads diverge.
No whisper, not even a thought exchanged; both aware of our closeness and our separate journeys.
I brace myself for the terrible beauty of the Monsoon.
Staring at me with her blue, green and purple eye, Pi May will give me three months of her laughter and drunkenness. The metamorphosis of the sky begins as heaven pours her tears and lashes my ears with the thick roar of thunder.
The divine deluge on the burning roof refreshes the wet timber with the vivid scent of frangipani.
Timid mornings of fragmented sleep, eyelids are made heavy by nocturnal chattering of neighborhood hens, and gecko's frantic dance on the ceiling; Kao Nhot rises from its foggy dream to the humming of morning motorcycles. The blood orange rays of dawn stretch across the worn floor.
The spicy scent of braised timber tickles my nostrils.
Water whips against the bathroom tiles, urging me to rise.
Yesterday, the bells in the tower of Piawat church pierced the clouds.
Around him, the thick jungle sheltered Phis and naughty spirits as he walked the road to school.
In front of Mahosot mortuary, his weakened legs trembled, rushing their pace.
Each alley had its terror.
Today, silent clouds blanket the roofs.
My journey takes me in a few steps to cross the streets, to enter the alley.
No longer are there ghosts, tigers and signs of vicious snakes, dear Uncle.
Only the growling of annoying dogs disturbs.
From its height, a large sign, "Honda" illuminates the gloomy nap of the homeless souls.
Memory haunts me - my recollections are strewn like fragments on a dusty waste ground consumed long ago by fire. I envy those who can tell the details of their pasts: long ago wars, colorful love affairs, old family stories. How can I remember when I cannot untie the wrappings on the charred portraits in the gallery of my origins?
My attachment to my country surprises me. Even with its weaknesses, I love it. Is it because I live the nostalgia of my grandmother? Is it because this thread of magic moments can be found nowhere else - the sweetness of rising with the bright glare of dawn spreading its colors, the humid days in which laziness and siesta are lifted to sophistication, nights of thunder that trap me in the courtyard to contemplate my limits?
Time erodes the drawn face of the Plain of Jars. Scars fade as history erases the stories, but marks remain on the silent field. With my naïve eyes, I shut myself to its old ghoulish sights.
"Hand in hand we will go back home with my nicest costume, my betel apparel," you were telling me, May Tou, before you vanished, impatient, in a cloud of smoke.
In Vientiane, today, Grandmother, in the altar of your room forever, I will sleep away your portrait, our nocturnal words, our smiles, our fears, our doubts, and your ashes.
Exile disease never goes away; it maintains itself and, with maturity, grows worse.
I have a moment of confidence and pride in knowing there is another language, another culture. Until, at the threshold, doors of truth and understanding will not open.
I am left with melancholy, the symptoms of my disease.
Its doors lead me into a labyrinth looking for myself because long ago history made up its mind.

Artist's Statement

I was overwhelmed when Shavan Dara invited me to join her in Laos in November 1996 to document with camera a journey which took us from Vientiane to Houayxay, via Luangprabang and Pakbeng on the Mekong River. Having previously documented the migration of Laotian refugees in the United States from Minnesota to California, I felt privileged to have the opportunity to discover and reveal the faces of those who, caught in the Indochinese turmoil in 1974, stayed in Laos, while better understanding those who left, those who returned, and their innocent children.
The images contained in this portfolio were selected for their suitability to be etched on copper plates, while being a representative sample of my visions of a land and its kind, proud, independent and shy people. Far from being a visual illustration of Shavan Dara's poetry, they provide a perspective which, in my view, harmonizes with the emotional and touching reflection of her perceptions as she returns to Laos, after long exile, and rediscovers her people and native land.
Luc Janssens

Hommage a Baudelaire


TEXT

1. Correspondences.
All nature's a temple whose pillars, alive,
Sometimes utter words indistinct and unclear;
Man passes through forests of symbols therein
Which observe him with knowing, familiar regard
Like lingering echoes which blend from afar
Into mystical union obscure and profound.
Immense as the night and the clear light of day,
Fragrances, colors and sound correspond.
There are scents fresh and cool like the flesh of a child,
Clear and dulcet like oboes, verdant green like the fields,
-An others, depraved, exhultant and rich.
That have the expansion of infinite things,
Such as ambergris, benzoin, incense and musk
Which sing of the transports of spirit and sense.

2. A une Dame Creole
Au Pays parfume que le soleil caresse,
J'ai connu, sous un dais d'arbres tout empourpres
Et de palmiers d'ou pleut sur les yeux la paresse,
Une dame creole aux charmes ignores.
Son teint est pale et chaud; la brunne enchanteresse
A dans le cou des airs noblement manieres;
Grande et svelte en marchant comme une chasseresse.
Si vous alliez, Madame, au vrai pays de gloire,
Sur les bords de la Seine ou de la verte Loire,
Belle digne d'orner les antiques manoirs,
Vous feriez, a l'abris des ombreuses retraites,
Germer mille sonnets dans le coeur des poetes
Que vos grands yeux rendraient plus soumis que vos noirs.

3. Intoxicate Yourself.
One must always be intoxicated. Everything is there: It is the only question. In order not to feel the horrible burden of Time which crushes your shoulders and bends you closer to the earth, one must unceasingly intoxicate himself. But what with? With wine, poetry or virtue, as you wish. But intoxicate yourself.
And if sometime, on the stairs of a palace, on the green grass of a ditch, in the gloomy solitude of your room, you wake up, inebriety already diminished or vanished, ask the wind, ask the wave, ask the star, ask the bird, ask the clock, ask everything that runs, everything that moans, everything that rolls, everything that speaks, ask what time it is, and the wind, the wave, the star, the bird, the clock will answer: "It is time to intoxicate yourselves! In order not to become the martyrized slaves of Time, intoxicate yourselves! With wine, poetry or virtue, as you wish."

4. Beauty.
I am beautiful, O mortals, like a dream carved in stone,
And my breast, where by turns everyone came to feed their suffering,
Inspires poets with a love as eternal and silent as matter itself.
I sit on a throne in the azure, like a sphinx, misunderstood;
I combine a heart of snow with the whiteness of swans;
Yet, I despise any movement which displaces lines,
And never do I cry, never laugh.
Facing the insolence which
I seem to borrow from the proudest statues,
Poets will consume their days with austere studies;
Because, to fascinate those obedient lovers, I have
Pure mirrors which reflect everything even more beautifully:
My eyes, my large eyes and their eternal clarity.

5. The Sick Muse.
My poor muse, Alas! What is the trouble this morning?
Your tired baggy eyes are filled with visions of the night
And I see, one after the other in your sickly complexion,
Cold and taciturn, folly and horror.
Have the green succubus and the malicious pink sprite
Drenched you with fear and love from their urns?
Has nightmare, with its despotic and mischievous fist,
Drowned you in the depth of Minturnes' fabulous prison?
May your breast, exhaling the odor of health,
Always be visited by strong thoughts,
And your Christian blood be ever shed in rhythmic streams,
Like the numerous sounds of antique syllables,
Where by turns reign Apollo, father of all songs,
And Pan, god of all harvests.

9. The Metamorphoses of a Vampire.
Meanwhile the woman, from her strawberry lips,
(Like a snake on redhot coals, writhing her hips
and working her breasts against the stays of her busk)
Let flow these words, with a heavy scent of musk:
"My mouth is wet; and I know deep in my bed
How to bury old conscience till he's dead.
On these proud breast I wipe all tears away
And old men laugh like children at their play.
For the man who sees me naked, I replace
The moon, the sun, and all the stars of space!
And I am so expert at voluptuous charms
That when I hush a man in my terrible arms
Yielding my bosom to his biting lust,
(Shy but provocative, frail and yet robust)
The mattress swoons in commotion under me.
When she had sucked the marrow from every bone,
I turned to her as languid as a stone
To give her one last kiss… and saw her thus:
A slimy rotten wineskin, full of puss!
I shut my eyes, transfixed in a chill of fright,
And when I opened them to the living light…
Beside me there, that powerful robot
That fed its fill out of my blood… was not!
Instead, the cold ruins of a skeleton
Shivered, creaking like a weather vane
Or like a sign hung on an iron arm
Swinging through long winter nights in the storm.

10. All in One.
The Demon in my chamber high,
This morning came to visit me,
And trying to find me in some fault,
Said: "I would very much like to know
Among the beautiful things
Her magic is made of,
Of the black and pink substances
That make her sensual body,
Which is the sweetest." - O soul of mine!
You did reply to the Abhorred:
"Since she is all one divine flower,
No single petal can be preferred.
When all things charm me, I know not
If one alone brings most delight;
She shines before me like the Dawn,
And consoles me like the Night.
Far to exquisite is the harmony
That governs all her beautiful body
For impotence to analyze
In notes the numerous chords.
O mystic metamorphosis
For all my senses melted into one!
Her breath makes music
As her voice makes perfume!"

Thailand, Visions and Reflections


TEXT
I bow down to the perfect Buddha,
The best of teachers, who propounded
That what dependently arises
Has no cessation, no production,
No annihilation, no permanence, no coming,
No going, no difference, no sameness,
Is free of the elaborations [of inherent
Existence and Duality] and is at peace.
Nagarjuna's Fundamental text Called "Wisdom" (I. Invocation)
This portfolio released November 15th 2001, has been printed in a limited edition of twenty-five numbered copies and three artist's proofs on Fabriano paper 290gr/m2. It contains four dust-grained photogravures hand-pulled on the artist's press in Napa, California. The portfolio cover and title page were made by Foolscap Press in Santa Cruz, California.
All rights reserved. No images herein can be reproduced in any form without the express permission of Luc Janssens. All prints, signed by the artist, bear the seal of the studio.
This Portfolio is number:___


Robert and Margrit Mondavi, Visions and Reflections.


TEXT
Introduction
Bob has always reminded me of an ancient Roman; a consul or senator whose strong features have survived for us to admire in marble. No - much more of one of the campaigning, hard-driving emperors, Hadrian or Constantine or Probus, who led the Roman Empire from the front.
Bob has led the Napa Valley from the front for thirty years. He is the natural leader that a whole generation of California's wine community has been happy to follow. But his convictions have had a far wider path. He has not been contempt simply to make California's finest wine, nor even to make his winery one of the world's greatest family enterprises, with all his children involved. His restless spirit has been on a perpetual crusade for a quarter of a century. Wine is his religion; his belief that it can shed light into the world's dispirited corners and offer every citizen a more fufilled and healthier life.
At the age of 83, robust, argumentative, travelling the world as much as ever, Bob has no proving to do. He is himself the living proof that a positive vision can carry all before it.
Thirty years ago this year he built the first new Napa winery since Prohibition. In one stroke, with the famous tower and archway, he rooted his vision in the missionary past and launched an icon for the future. Is there any other winery on earth so instantly recognizable to so many people?
Bob found his perfect complement in Margrit Biever: a wife whose gaiety and taste made the emperor more approachable, and whose patience gave his impulses cohesion. The most marvellous of all his creations, Opus One, came about through the happy conjunction of minds that brought Bob and Baron Philippe close, and now makes Philippine de Rothschild a delighted participant in the Mondavi magic.
There are always dark forces in society that resent everything joyful and positive. The renaissance of California wine in the 1970s brought the discovery of taste and the pleasures of the table to millions of Americans; an event too wonderful and life-enhancing to be tolerated. Predictably the puritans marshalled their forces.
This is where the emperor and the missionary came together. To see Bob and Margrit throwing themselves into their campaign to spread the gospel of wine was an inspiration. The battle for tolerance is not won. It never will be. But it might have been lost without the leadership of the Mondavis.
This album commemorates a marriage of two minds at the same time lovable and formidable. They have projected their view of life, glad and grateful, into the lives of millions. We have learned, through them, to be glad and grateful too.
London, April 1, 1996 Hugh Johnson

Print one interleaving quote:
No need for a cameraman to say smile as his lens catches the warm expression of Mr. and Mrs. Napa Valley. The [-] image of Bob and Margrit is real. A proper sense of achievement has given a deserved glow to their features.
As someone who knew them both before they met and saw them as searchers for a fulfillment yet to be, I can say that some "before photograph" would have shown two people on a quest. Now, viewing the present Bob and Margrit, I find the shared pleasure written on their faces a catchy, even a contagious sight.
Their gift to us is the making of wine, the encouragement of the arts and a way of life itself is the true substance behind their facial images. And surely we are invited to share their pleasures.
Rene di Rosa

Print two interleaving quote:
It's rare for an industry to have a person of vision dedicate his life and his resources to the fulfillment of that vision. In our wine industry, that individual is Robert Mondavi, a person whose life has been spent sharing his knowledge with fellow vintners. We in the Napa Valley have been very fortunate to have this dynamic personality as our neighbor where we have been able to share in the limelight of his many worl renowned accomplishments.
Chuck Carpy

Print three interleaving quote:
Robert Mondavi has gained world wide recognition as a tireless and very effective promoter of great wine, food and the arts. It is a measure of Bob however, that his is a selfless ambassadorship, encompassing the entire Napa Valley. I will always be grateful for his kindness to me and his wise counsel to a "greenhorn" in the Valley.
Bob's goodwill is dedicated to the meaningful and artistic good life, not only his, but to all whose lives he touches. I proudly count Bob and Margrit as my mentors and close friends.
Donald Hess

Print four interleaving quote:
Much of the now renowned appreciation of California wines is due to you, Bob Mondavi. Even when you started the Robert Mondavi Winery thirty years ago, you have insisted on quality, and that insistence has influenced the whole wine production community. Both you and Margrit insistence, enthousiasm, and your generosity both materially and personally have contributed immensey to the "good life", as you Bob, like to phrase it - and live it. All hail to you Bob and Margrit. Affectionate greetings and love.
Julia Child

Print five interleaving quote:
Bob Mondavi has a sparkle in his eyes and a smile on his lips whenever he has a glas of good wine in his hands. Bob's imagination flew high, and his entrepreneurial spirit flew free, as he and Baron Philippe de Rothschild created the renowned Opus One venture. Bob was also the prime mover in founding the Napa Valley Wine Auction, now a great philanthropic success story.
He is currently working on his "mission" to encourage the healthyful use of wine in moderation, preferably with food. Another active passion is his drive to build a museum, featuring wine, food, art, and gracious living, or, in Bob's own words, "the Good Life".
Prayerful best wishes to Bob and Margrit, from
Brother Tim

Print six interleaving quote:
If one is lucky in life, one finds an inspiring figure, a role model. I have always considered Bob and Margrit Mondavi as the most inspiring couple in the world of wine. The quality of their wines and their inexhaustible enthusiasm set an example for all wine producers.
If one is terribly lucky, one enjoy knowing first hand that person. With Bob and Margrit's warm friendship, I have been fortunate indeed. I even dare to call Bob my "godfather" because, without him, I, as a Frenchman, would never have attempted to produce a wine in the Napa Valley.
Bob's unflagging curiosity, Margrit's unerring good taste and their "joie de vivre" have played an inimitable role in my decision to come to California.
Christian Moueix

Print seven interleaving quote:
Robert and Margrit are the epitome of a life graced with charm, class, style and great generosity of sharing. They have a special quality of personal magnetism and are wonderfully altruistic in their enthusiasm for the promotion of the happy triad of WINE, FOOD AND THE ARTS!
This charismatic energetic couple make all of our lives richer and more meaningful. Their passion for living and giving is infectious!
Barney and Belle Rhodes

Print eight interleaving quote:
Expanding the place of wine in our society is a dream many of us share. But few really work at it! But Bob and Margrit are out there pursuing the cause every day. Few can match their vision, energy and imagination in endorsing this truly worthwhile mission. But there is more.
Their contributions go well beyond pursuit of this great goal. Their outreach to help others, their actions to advance worthwhile causes, their integrity, their reliability, all set them apart.
We are not only lucky, but blessed to have them standing with us.
Jack Davies

Print nine interleaving quote:
In 1941 I was first introduced to Bob Mondavi by my father who described him an an ambitious, bright, energetic young man who was destined to have his mark on the industry. Later, after World War II, when I had a chance to know him better I would add perseverance to those qualities. Right from the beginning Bob had a vision and a goal for the place of California wines in the world. He has never deviated from pursuing that goal. The image that Napa Valley wines enjoy today are in huge part due to the promotional expertise and efforts of Bob and Margrit.
Louis P. Martini

Print ten interleaving quote:
Art is a very special word. It describes for us supreme human accomplishments. The enduring involvement of Margrit and Robert Mondavi in the arts with their constant and continuing search for the very finest has resulted in rare and extraordinary contributions to our lives.
Thank you for lifting our spirits and for touching our hearts!
Betty Jean and Wayne Thiebaud

Print eleven interleaving quote:
When I met Bob and Margrit I knew at least that there was a real bond between the two of them and that the two of them would be superb partners for me.
When I traveled with them, ate and drank with them I knew that we saw things in the same way and laughed at the same jokes. When we became entangled in what was to become a great and unique winery in the Napa Valley, I knew, in a flash of revelation, that these two people, silently and [decisevely] had climbed into my life. I loved their energy, their curiosity, their taste, persistance, imagination and humour, playing like children in the garden of an unbuilt house.
Bob and Margrit, Margrit and Bob, my youngest friends…
Philippine de Rothschild

Print twelve interleaving quote:
You are like two golden birds perched on a branch ready to take flight - always together. Your endless openness and dedication to what you believe in contributes to your continual, amazing energy and growth. We want you to know that you are both a great source of inspiration not only to ourselves but to the many lives you touch. We love you both very much.
Virginia and Ernie Van Asperen

Artist's Statement interleaving quotes:
My brother's energy, enthusiasm and drive have benefited not only his winery, but the entire California wine industry. We all owe a debt of gratitude to Robert for his selfless efforts.
Peter Mondavi Sr.

I know of no two people who have done more to create, promote, share and revel in the good life than Robert and Margrit Mondavi. If man is, that he might have joy, then he should take notes from the journals of Robert and Margrit. In their company, life is an unending celebration.
Robin Lail

Artist's Statement
The photographs for this portfolio were taken at Wappo Hill, the Mondavi's residence, in Napa, California during the winter of 1995-96. I was overwhelmed with admiration, curiosity and respect as they graciously invited me into their home allowing me to document a time in their lives.
I found photogravure very appropriate for this project, for like winemaking, the completion of an image relies not solely on creativity, but on a rigorous technique, a feeling for the medium, as well as some vision of the end result. Each print, like a vintage or a varietal, has unique characteristics. I have tried in each reflection of Bob and Margrit to depict a fleeting moment in their lives, capturing their gentleness, power, simplicity, mutual devotion, joie de vivre, and most of all humanness.
This portfolio is a small tribute to their consistent support for the arts, an inseparable element of the philosophy of the "Good Life".
ROBERT & MARGRIT MONDAVI, Visions and Reflections, has been produced in a limited edition of 50 numbered copies on Lana Gravure 300gm/M2 and three artist's proofs on Lanaquarelle 600gm/M2. The portfolio contains twelve dust-grained photogravures hand-pulled on the artist's press in Napa, California. Facsimiles of fourteen hand-written statements by some of the many friends of the Mondavis have been printed on UV Ultra interleaving. They include comments by Chuck Carpy, Julia Child, Jack Davies, Baroness Philippine de Rothschild, Rene di Rosa, Donald Hess, Robin Lail, Louis P. Martini, Peter Mondavi Sr., Christian Moueix, Barney and Belle Rhodes, Betty Jean and Wayne Thiebaud, Brother Tim, and Virginia and Ernie Van Asperen. The introduction was written by Hugh Johnson, in London, England. The text was printed and the portfolio boxes were made by Arion Press, in San Francisco, California. All the prints have been approved, numbered, signed by the artist and bear the seal of the artist's studio.
All rights reserved. No images herein can be reproduced in any form without the express permission of Luc Janssens. This portfolio is Number ___