Another sunny Saigon afternoon whiled away in Bertrand Peret's studio. The artist has found himself in new digs, with a big new breeze and ample wall space to hang his quickly growing collection of bright and bold new paintings. The mission of this particular jaunt down south had me interviewing Bertrand for a video we are producing featuring his new series of paintings, directed by Antoine Vaillant. In search of the perfect turn of phrase for the camera, Bertrand and I chatted about getting back to the basics and the classics. For him, it's all about the medium: painting. The content is just a pretext for picking up some brushes and some neon and concentrating on the composition at his hand. His work is a testament to the power of instinct and the sometimes overwhelming desire to escape meaning. An admirer of Georges Braque, Bertrand left me with this gem of a thought by the groundbreaking Cubist: "The painting is finished when the idea has disappeared." Video out in July, show up in October. Anticipate. P1170287__1_.jpg P1170290__1_.jpg P1170289__1_.jpg