Philippe Arnoux Photography

Eric Joyeux was born in 1947 in Guadeloupe on the island called “les Saintes”. 
His father was Henri Samson, a sailor man, and his mother, Irène Joyeux.
As they were not married and not living together, people called him “the bastard”.
So, at 17 he decided to escape to Marseilles, working on the docks, and then on a boat, going around the world for 5 years.
One day, a friend suggested he should become an artist. His first speciality being the striptease.
Then for 10 years he danced in cabaret and disco’s all around Europe with Elisabeth, his beloved friend.
It is in 1981 that he decided to learn how to play the guitare and composed his first song “Mademoiselle Babette”.
His artist name became “Joyeux”, and later (in 1987) adding an element of satirical nobility, “de Cocotier”
In 1982 he created his own cabaret in Marseille, La Payotte, where I first met him.
I remember making the cover photo of his 4th record called Pina Colada Coco Loco.
Obviously he wanted to pose nude, arching in such a way that he was able to balance a cocktail glass on his buttock.
A real self-made man, he never stopped composing, writing poetry and songs, sculpting, loving and dancing.

I called two weeks ago after nearly 10 years without speaking. We talked for nearly an hour.
In the background I could hear some Bip.. Bip..Bip…
So, naturally I asked him what was this noise? Laughing, he answered that he had recently suffered a heart attack.

Oedipus was the son of  Laius and Jocasta, king and queen of Thebes.
The Oracle prophesied that if Laius should have a son, the son would kill him and marry Jocaste. In an attempt to prevent this prophecy’s fulfillment, Laius gave the boy to a servant to abandon him. However, the child is saved by a shepherd from Corinthe, and then adopted by Merope and Polybe, queen and king of Corinthe. 
Later Oedipus is told by the Oracle that he is destined to kill his father and marry his mother. In his attempt to avoid its fate, he decides to not return home to Corinth.
As Oedipus travels he enters in a fight and without knowing it, he kills Laius, his father, unwittingly fulfilling part of the prophecy.
Continuing his journey to Thebes, Oedipus encounters the Sphinx which would kill those who do not answer correctly a riddle. Oedipus answers and the Sphinx kills itself, freeing Thebes.
Grateful, the people of Thebes appoint Oedipus as their king and give him the recently widowed Queen Jocasta’s hand in marriage. They have four children: Polynice, Eteocle, Antigone and Ismene.
Many years after , a plague of infertility strikes the city of Thebes; The Oracle at Delphi, requests that the murderer of the former King Laius must be found and either be killed or exiled. In a search for the identity of the killer, Oedipus finds he is the killer. Jocasta then goes into the palace where she hangs herself. Taking two pins from her dress, Oedipus gouges his eyes out and leaves in exile. His daughter Antigone acts as his guide as he wanders blindly through the country, ultimately dying at Colonus.
His two sons kill each other in a war for power. Jocasta’s brother, Creon, takes the throne. He decides that Polynices was a “traitor,” and should not be given burial rites. Defying this edict, Antigone attempts to bury her brother and, for this trespass, Creon has her buried in a rock cavern where she hangs herself. Then his son, Haemon, kills himself because he loved Antigone, and Creon’s wife, Eurydice, also commit suicide because she cannot stand the death of her son; her last words cursing Creon.

At the end of this story only two survive: Creon and Ismene

Exposing the Thruth, is it always worthwhile ?

La Vache qui rit is a cheese, also called Laughing Cow in some anglosaxon countries. It is a blend of cream, milk and fresh and aged cheeses, particularly comté, which are pasteurized to stop the ripening process. Versatile and portable because of its pasteurization process, Laughing Cow can remain unrefrigerated for a limited length of time.

The archetypal Laughing Cow cheese comes wrapped in the individual serving-sized foiled wedges, and they are packaged in a round, flat box. Consumers have to pull a little red thread around the box to open it, and the foil packaging also features a red tab for opening.

On April 16, 1921, Léon Bel trademarked his brand, called “La Vache qui rit,” in France. In the trademark, the cow is said to have a hilarious expression. The cheese is quite popular all over the world, and it has even copies, like in VietNam where the drawings of the cows have sometimes quite funny faces.

It is sold in the Middle East. Because no animal rennet or pepsin is used, it is considered halaal by Muslim standards. I have no idea if it is authorized in Israel.

In many countries artists are working far below the poverty line, and not only in developing countries. In Australia, an overwhelming majority of artists are living in dire poverty. Earnings by most Canadian artists are hovering at poverty levels. The situation is likely to worsen as Government arts funding are falling down with serious decline in interest for artistic and cultural life.

On average, artists spent just 50 percent of their time on creative work; for the rest of the day they were forced to earn income from other sources.

Recently I met Efrain Rodriguez. He is born in 1961. He is painter, sculptor and poet, and totally autodidact. Disciple of the ESCUELA DE PINTURA DE AZUERO created by Raul Vasquez. He is living outside Los Santos, in a 12m2 house, with no bathroom, no kitchen, nothing. He has just a room to sleep and store his paintings, and another room to store more painting and sculpting.

When he has no money to paint and to eat, he goes to the Marin cooperative as a worker to collect salt in a producer located nearby.

I’m not sure how much truth there is in the romantic image of the bohemian starving artist.