- Hi Guy, what’s up?
- All cool, we’re in Amsterdam
- The Dam, I love the Dam. Why are you in Holland and why Amsterdam?
- We’ve been in Cervinia snowboarding and decided to come home via Amsterdam, we got here the day before yesterday, had a drive to Rotterdam, stayed there the night and then drove back. Amsterdam is so cool, there’s a bar on the corner of Dam square where we always go, we sit outside, buy a Heineken and chill as the world goes by; if you shut your eyes and listen all you hear is hundreds of people speaking different languages, it’s amazing, there’s nowhere quite like it – London is great and so is Barcelona and Venice is radical but it’s a different vibe in Amsterdam, it’s a different texture here, a different fabric if that makes sense. I first came here in 1996 to shoot a TV commercial for KLM and we’ve been coming back ever since, it’s a lovely place and the people are so friendly.
- So you’re on a break?
- Haha well sort of, I’m working as well, kind of. I’ve just started a new series of paintings called Fabricatia. Last Summer in the build up to my mate Elvis’ wedding in Ireland I completed a series of images called Aqualandia. Elvis lives in Louisburgh which is a magical place on the west coast overlooking Clare Island. The theme for Aqualandia was the sea and its environment – bright colours, sunshine, sand dunes, cliffs, salt, shells, all the things that could make up a world under and above the ocean; over the last few months I’ve been thinking, what would be the opposite to that? Where could it be? where can you go that is flat, has no cliffs or sand dunes and has a totally different vibe to a rural coastal village in western Ireland – Amsterdam . So, I’m here to get some ideas, do some research haha … and hang out.
- Cool and when will we be able to see Fabricatia?
- I don’t know, when they’re done I suppose, I can never put a time frame on it
- And obviously you have to fit in your surfing schedule
- You know me too well Lucia, if there’s waves at home or wherever I am I will definitely be surfing. It’s been pumping in Cornwall recently, I wake up every morning at first light, make a coffee, take a stroll down to the beach and there are waves everywhere…awesome
- And tennis?
- yes, there will always be that, there’s a lot going on, but…well, you know
- No I don’t know, you never talk about tennis, tell us what’s going on, we want to know.
- Oh you know…it’s just tennis, a bat a ball hahaha !!!!
And that was it, one minute he was there and then he was gone. At least it’s only been 3 months this time. We’ve followed Guy for over a year now and although contact time has been infrequent to say the least, every time we speak it’s definitely informative and I do feel we are starting to get an idea of what he is about. We know he surfs a lot, likes to travel and he has confirmed what many who have known him a long time keep referring to when they mention his “creativity”. We want to know more and as the saying goes: ”you can run but you can’t hide!” watch this space…Lucia