VENUS, EVE & THE ABSINTHE DRINKER

Highgate Fine Art. October 2008

Goddesses of love and destruction, fallen women from the garden of Eden to Montmartre.

Absinthe, the drink of bohemians and lunatics, banned in 1915 as a 'danger to society'. When I drank it I had lurid yellow dreams all night. I'm not sure if it was the absinthe itself, or the myth of the green fairy, or the saki I was mixing it with, but I woke up with this painting in my head. I didn't even stop for an alka seltzer before I went into the studio.

Although it's manufactuerd in France now, the name is still can't be used, maybe it's too symbolic, too subversive. Now the most popular brand is called 'Absente' and comes in a gift box with a pastiche Van Gogh self portrait on it, a third eye replacing his missing ear.