Latest news with #Surrealist
Business Wire
03-06-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
'This Is Not a Farm': Farmers Call out €386bn EU Policy as Small Farms Vanish
BRUSSELS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A series of Magritte-inspired Surrealist artwork appeared outside the European Parliament – confronting policymakers with a visual warning about the future of farming in Europe, and a call to align the EU's €386 billion farm subsidy system with the Green Deal. WeMove Europe, the independent campaign group made up of more than 750,000 people across Europe behind the stunt, have called for urgent CAP reform — demanding fairer subsidies, stronger market regulation, and greater support for sustainable, small-and medium-sized farms. The action is backed by a coalition of farmer groups, environmental organisations and over 100,000 citizens across Europe. They argue the current subsidy system rewards intensive agriculture at the expense of small and sustainable farms. Share The action is backed by a coalition of farmer groups, environmental organisations and over 100,000 citizens across Europe. They argue the current subsidy system rewards intensive agriculture at the expense of small and sustainable farms. More than five million farms have disappeared across the EU since 2005, while 80% of CAP funds go to just 20% of recipients. Polling released earlier this year shows up to 70% of farmers in Spain, Italy and Poland feel forgotten by policymakers — despite most expressing pride in their work and support for environmental action. Morgan Ody, a vegetable producer from Bretagne, France, and member of European Coordination Via Campesina (ECVC), says: 'Alongside ensuring fair prices, a strong CAP budget is essential to tackle the challenges farmers face today. But that public money must be used to keep rural areas alive by regulating markets and supporting the transition to agroecology and more sustainable food systems – not to fuel the industrialisation of farming or line shareholders' pockets.' Styled in homage to Magritte's famous 'Treachery of Images', the artworks unveiled carry captions such as 'Ceci n'est pas une pomme' and 'Ceci n'est pas une ferme'. Their message: Europe's farm policy no longer feeds people — it feeds corporate consolidation. The full collection is viewable at The aim is to challenge outdated 'postcard' perceptions of farming — and spark honest discussion among policymakers about who the current system really serves. In many European areas, one in three farms has ceased operations, while subsidised overproduction drives prices so low that some farmers earn less than it costs them to produce. In France and Spain, for example, milk is often sold below production cost — a market failure propped up by the CAP. Giulio Carini, communications manager at WeMove Europe says: 'Our farming system is rigged. Small farmers are being pushed off the land while agribusiness giants cash in on public money. Discussions about the future of the CAP need to address what we are paying for, not just how much money is allocated to it. We need to support farmers and reward them for protecting our nature and climate, on which they rely. We're calling on people across Europe to stand up for fair prices, healthy food, and a future where small sustainable farmers and nature can thrive. This is our moment to demand our EU leaders fix this broken system.' In full, the coalition is calling for: Fair prices for farmers that reflect the full cost of sustainable food production Stronger market regulation, including supply management and minimum price guarantees Greater support for small and medium-sized farms over industrial agribusiness A just transition to agroecology to protect soil health, climate, biodiversity, and food sovereignty Access to healthy, sustainable food for all, ensuring that good food is affordable and available, and that people can make real choices about what they eat, without hidden environmental or health costs. These reforms are essential not only for securing farmers' futures, but also for delivering on the EU Green Deal — ensuring that Europe's food system supports climate, nature and communities alike. People across Europe can urge the EU to act by signing the petition at
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
"This Is Not a Farm": Farmers Call out €386bn EU Policy as Small Farms Vanish
Farmers across the EU have pledged their support for This is Not a Farm, a campaign petitioning the EU for reforms to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Research shows up to 70% of farmers across key EU states say they feel forgotten, disrespected or unrecognised — despite being core to Europe's food system WeMove Europe and small and pioneering farmers' groups are urging citizens of the EU to sign a petition ahead of key CAP talks BRUSSELS, June 03, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A series of Magritte-inspired Surrealist artwork appeared outside the European Parliament – confronting policymakers with a visual warning about the future of farming in Europe, and a call to align the EU's €386 billion farm subsidy system with the Green Deal. WeMove Europe, the independent campaign group made up of more than 750,000 people across Europe behind the stunt, have called for urgent CAP reform — demanding fairer subsidies, stronger market regulation, and greater support for sustainable, small-and medium-sized farms. The action is backed by a coalition of farmer groups, environmental organisations and over 100,000 citizens across Europe. They argue the current subsidy system rewards intensive agriculture at the expense of small and sustainable farms. More than five million farms have disappeared across the EU since 2005, while 80% of CAP funds go to just 20% of recipients. Polling released earlier this year shows up to 70% of farmers in Spain, Italy and Poland feel forgotten by policymakers — despite most expressing pride in their work and support for environmental action. Morgan Ody, a vegetable producer from Bretagne, France, and member of European Coordination Via Campesina (ECVC), says: "Alongside ensuring fair prices, a strong CAP budget is essential to tackle the challenges farmers face today. But that public money must be used to keep rural areas alive by regulating markets and supporting the transition to agroecology and more sustainable food systems – not to fuel the industrialisation of farming or line shareholders' pockets." Styled in homage to Magritte's famous 'Treachery of Images', the artworks unveiled carry captions such as "Ceci n'est pas une pomme" and "Ceci n'est pas une ferme". Their message: Europe's farm policy no longer feeds people — it feeds corporate consolidation. The full collection is viewable at The aim is to challenge outdated "postcard" perceptions of farming — and spark honest discussion among policymakers about who the current system really serves. In many European areas, one in three farms has ceased operations, while subsidised overproduction drives prices so low that some farmers earn less than it costs them to produce. In France and Spain, for example, milk is often sold below production cost — a market failure propped up by the CAP. Giulio Carini, communications manager at WeMove Europe says: "Our farming system is rigged. Small farmers are being pushed off the land while agribusiness giants cash in on public money. Discussions about the future of the CAP need to address what we are paying for, not just how much money is allocated to it. We need to support farmers and reward them for protecting our nature and climate, on which they rely. We're calling on people across Europe to stand up for fair prices, healthy food, and a future where small sustainable farmers and nature can thrive. This is our moment to demand our EU leaders fix this broken system." In full, the coalition is calling for: Fair prices for farmers that reflect the full cost of sustainable food production Stronger market regulation, including supply management and minimum price guarantees Greater support for small and medium-sized farms over industrial agribusiness A just transition to agroecology to protect soil health, climate, biodiversity, and food sovereignty Access to healthy, sustainable food for all, ensuring that good food is affordable and available, and that people can make real choices about what they eat, without hidden environmental or health costs. These reforms are essential not only for securing farmers' futures, but also for delivering on the EU Green Deal — ensuring that Europe's food system supports climate, nature and communities alike. People across Europe can urge the EU to act by signing the petition at View source version on Contacts info@
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
These women sold thousands worth of designer clothing to a Vogue-backed NYC consignment shop — and say they never got paid or saw them again
Before deciding to sell her designer clothes, Monica Suk had barely heard of Dora Maar. Now, she wishes she never had — after the trendy NYC-based online luxury consignment shop went out of business, leaving her high and dry. The company and its founder and chief executive, Lauren Taylor Wilson, were once splashed across the pages of Vogue, Marie Claire, Women's Wear Daily, Forbes and The Wall Street Journal. Lilah Ramzi, an editor and fashion historian, and the style blogger Leandra Medine Cohen also helped promote the project, giving it additional heft — Rodarte and Markarian, who dressed Jill Biden for the 2021 inauguration, even teamed up with the trendy site to resell inventory. 'It looked legit, and it was cool,' Suk, a 36-year-old tech professional in Hong Kong, told The Post. Wilson, 35, brought major cred to the project, having previously held impressive positions at luxury platform Moda Operandi and in marketing at Christie's and Gucci before starting Dora Maar in 2019 to sell high-end fashion through community and storytelling and establish a provenance for each piece of clothing. Unlike competing consignment operations like The RealReal, Vestiaire Collective, Poshmark or Rebag, Dora Maar, named for the Surrealist photographer and onetime lover of Picasso, elevated its consignors to rock star status. The sellers, most of whom were micro-influencers Wilson called 'muses,' were highlighted on the website and on social media in magazine-worthy photographs, typically wearing the clothes they were selling. Many of them were stylists hawking their own services, and they welcomed the exposure and chance to promote their brands. When Suk turned to the company to off-load her estimated $16,000 worth of designer wares last year, a direct conversation with Brian Solis, Dora Maar's head of fashion, helped to put her at ease, as did emails with Solis and the team. 'They made it easy for me to sell my items,' she said — providing her with a DHL label and a set time to pick them up. Suk signed a lengthy contract about a month after and shipped two boxes of clothing — including a black Gabriela Hearst cashmere and silk dress, a Bottega Veneta poplin top, a Celine sweater and a pair of Chanel rubber rain boots — to the company's Brooklyn headquarters. Suk waited for payment, but claimed none came. At the end of July 2024, Suk received a mass email from Wilson informing her that as of early August, Dora Maar would cease business operations. The Post viewed the email in which Wilson wrote the decision was 'incredibly heartbreaking and painful for all of us.' The founder claimed the team took part-time pay cuts in the spring and she had 'barely taken a paycheck for over a year.' After an anticipated investment fell through over the summer, the shop had no choice but to shutter. Wilson said in a message that she was proud of the team, the muses and the 'relationships that were formed that became more than just a business, and more than a community,' she wrote. 'It became a DoMa family.' Wilson also acknowledged that it was her responsibility to try to make the muses 'whole,' but she couldn't guarantee that would happen. She asked sellers to let her know if they wanted their unsold items returned or if she should try to sell them with another resale platform. The website is still live, but no products are available for sale. Suk, who still hadn't received any commissions, sent Wilson an email on July 30 requesting payment for 22 items, which had sold for $3,626.65. Wilson assured Suk a week later that her leftover merchandise would be shipped back. 'As for the commissions, we are working on this through the closure and will follow up in due course,' she wrote in an email seen by The Post. Weeks later, Suk claimed she never received the money or the clothes. Worst, she claimed some of the prices on her pieces had been heavily discounted without her consent. In September 2024, after multiple attempts at getting a response from Wilson on her outstanding payments and giving her a deadline for rectifying the situation, Suk posted a video online, alleging her items were 'stolen,' and asked others to share their experiences. She received comments from more than 40 women for an estimated $25,000 in total. Some claimed they were invited to invest in the company; others claimed they were recruited in the months or weeks before Dora Maar announced its closing. Some sold clothing on behalf of their own clients, which meant they owed money elsewhere. One was told that a Dora Maar employee's mother had purchased her handbag; another said her items were bought by an employee. None of the women had been paid since April, they claimed — with insult added to injury as they watched Wilson post glamorous pictures from her European travels. Kate Easton, an actress in New York, is also waiting to get paid for her items. Easton, who declined to give her age, was asked to pose for a spring campaign to promote Dora Maar. 'The mutually agreed-upon terms were that they would sell my luxury items and I would receive commission for each of my items sold,' said Easton, who also posted on Instagram about Dora Maar events and clothing. Easton reached out many times over the next few months about the nonpayment and was eventually told that the company was shutting down and wouldn't be able to pay her commission from sales — nor were they able to return her sold items. 'It's disappointing and unfortunate that I was never paid for two of my luxury items that were sold on their site,' she said. ''Predatory' — that's the best word I can describe for what the experience was for me,' Clare Hardy, 39, said. Hardy added that Wilson messaged her online and invited her to become a muse in March. Hardy, who works at a large tech conglomerate and runs a website called The Haute Lady, was just starting out in the luxury resale space and was flattered that someone of Wilson's stature deemed her muse-worthy. 'I was blown away that a very small, brand-new creator like me would even get that type of attention,' Hardy said. 'The thought was, 'Oh, I was handpicked to be a muse.' It was very alluring.' She assembled about 15 items, shelled out roughly $2,000 on a photo shoot of her wearing them and sent everything from her home in Atlanta to New York. 'It's like I was targeted because I was a new creator who didn't know what the heck she was doing,' said Hardy, who has not been repaid the $4,000 she estimates she is owed. (She did receive her unsold clothes, minus an Hermès bracelet.) Natalia Zemliakova, a stylist in New York who declined to give her age, was also 'discovered' by Dora Maar on Instagram in late March. Like other women, she appreciated the company's ethos. 'With The RealReal, it's so impersonal,' Zemliakova said. 'You basically send your clothes to a warehouse, and they don't communicate with you. They don't tell you how much they will pay — you just ship it, and they decide everything on their own.' But this was different. Zemliakova sent about 15 pieces, including a vintage Yves Saint Laurent jacket. 'I warned them, 'If you guys sell it for a super low price, just tell me because I'd rather keep it,'' she said. Dora Maar seemed to understand the emotional turmoil that often accompanies closet evacuation, and the company promised to adhere to her request — which, she said, they did. But she says she is still owed $1,000 for three items that sold. 'It's almost an emotional betrayal,' Zemliakova said. 'They were selling these clothes, and the person who bought them basically paid for the thing, right? They were supposed to take 50 percent, and 50 percent goes to me. So why can't they pay for it?' Neither Wilson nor her lawyer, Daniel Weberman, responded to questions. Solis declined to comment. According to a report by Bain & Company, in 2024 the global secondhand luxury goods market grew to an estimated €48 billion (more than $50 billion), outpacing the sales of new luxury goods. The online second-hand market accounts for approximately 50% of the total secondhand market. But it's not regulated. John Breyault, a fraud expert with consumer advocacy organization the National Consumers League, said it was difficult to say if anything illegal took place. 'If they promised a lot of things and didn't deliver on them over a sustained period of time, or they were not upfront about what would happen if the company went out of business, that could be something I would expect an attorney general to look at,' he said. Suk said she was blocked by Wilson's personal account after posting the video and hopes to prevent others from falling victim to what she called an 'irresponsible entrepreneur.' 'Her point to people was, 'We're a small company, and there are risks,'' Suk said. 'No! That's something you tell your investors, not your sellers. Don't use the terms 'sustainability' and 'community' — especially when you're going to end up exploiting that community.'
New York Post
07-05-2025
- Business
- New York Post
We sold thousands worth of designer clothing to a NYC secondhand shop — and never got paid
Before deciding to sell her designer clothes, Monica Suk had barely heard of Dora Maar. Now, she wishes she never had — after the trendy NYC-based online luxury consignment shop went out of business, leaving her high and dry. The company and its founder and chief executive Lauren Taylor Wilson were once splashed across the pages of Vogue, Marie Claire, Women's Wear Daily, Forbes and The Wall Street Journal. Advertisement Lilah Ramzi, an editor and fashion historian, and the style blogger Leandra Medine Cohen also helped promote the project, giving it additional heft — Rodarte and Markarian, who dressed Jill Biden for the 2021 inauguration, even teamed up with the trendy site to resell inventory. 'It looked legit, and it was cool,' Suk, a 36-year-old tech professional in Hong Kong, told The Post. 12 Monica Suk, who works in tech but does content creation for fun, claimed she was never paid by Dora Maar. Daniel Murray Advertisement Wilson, 35, brought major cred to the project, having previously held impressive positions at luxury platform Moda Operandi, in marketing at Christie's and Gucci before starting Dora Maar in 2019 — to sell high-end fashion through community and storytelling and establish a provenance for each piece of clothing. Unlike competing consignment operations like The RealReal, Vestiaire Collective, Poshmark or Rebag, Dora Maar, named for the Surrealist photographer and onetime lover of Picasso, elevated its consignors to rockstar status. 12 Dora Maar founder and chief executive Lauren Taylor Wilson started the company in 2019. Lanscine JAnneh/ The sellers, most of whom were microinfluencers Wilson called 'muses,' were highlighted on the website and on social media in magazine-worthy photographs, typically wearing the clothes they were selling. Advertisement Many of them were stylists hawking their own services, and they welcomed the exposure and chance to promote their brands. 'Heartbreaking and painful' 12 Suk claimed they made it easy to list about $16,000 worth of items. Daniel Murray When Suk turned to the company to offload her estimated $16,000 worth of designer wares last year, a direct conversation with Brian Solis, Dora Maar's head of fashion, helped to put her at ease, as did emails with Solis and the team. 'They made it easy for me to sell my items,' she said — providing her with a DHL label and a set time to pick them up. Advertisement Suk signed a lengthy contract about a month after and shipped two boxes of clothing — including a black Gabriela Hearst cashmere and silk dress, a Bottega Veneta poplin top, a Celine sweater and a pair of Chanel rubber rain boots — to the company's Brooklyn headquarters. Suk waited for payment, but claimed none came. 12 Dora Maar is named after the French Surrealist artist. Jason Crowley/ At the end of July 2024, Suk received a mass email from Wilson informing her that as of early August, Dora Maar would cease business operations. The Post viewed the email in which Wilson wrote the decision was 'incredibly heartbreaking and painful for all of us.' The founder claimed the team took part-time pay cuts in the spring and she had 'barely taken a paycheck for over a year.' After an anticipated investment fell through over the summer, the shop had no choice but to shutter. Previous 1 of 6 Next Advertisement The online luxury consignment shop announced it was closing. The brand announced it was closing in August 2024. Dora Maar/Instagram Advertisement 'After five years we're sad to announce that Dora Maar is closing. Thank you to everyone for your unwavering love and support. We are so proud of what we've built together. It's been the journey of a lifetime. Love, Lauren and the DoMa team.' Dora Maar/Instagram Dora Maar often referred to its customers as the DoMa family and called its sellers 'muses.' Dora Maar/Instagram Advertisement Wilson said in a message that she was proud of the team, the muses and the 'relationships that were formed that became more than just a business, and more than a community,' she wrote. 'It became a DoMa family.' Advertisement Wilson also acknowledged that it was her responsibility to try to make the muses 'whole,' but she couldn't guarantee that would happen. She asked sellers to let her know if they wanted their unsold items returned or if she should try to sell them with another resale platform. The website is still live, but no products are available for sale. 12 Brian Solis and Lauren Wilson, seen here in 2024 at the Friends of the Costume Institute breakfast and tour of the Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion exhibit. Hippolyte Petit/ Non-payment Suk, who still hadn't received any commissions, sent Wilson an email on July 30 requesting payment for 22 items, which had sold for $3,626.65. Advertisement Wilson assured Suk a week later that her leftover merchandise would be shipped back. 'As for the commissions, we are working on this through the closure and will follow up in due course,' she wrote in an email seen by The Post. 12 Dora Maar featured Wilson wearing Suk's Chanel rain boots on its social media account. @shopdoramaar Weeks later, Suk claimed she never received the money or the clothes. Worst, she claimed some of the prices on her pieces had been heavily discounted without her consent. Advertisement In September 2024, after multiple attempts at getting a response from Wilson on her outstanding payments and giving her a deadline for rectifying the situation, Suk posted a video online, alleging her items were 'stolen,' and asked others to share their experiences. She received comments from more than 40 women for an estimated $25,000 in total. Some claimed they were invited to invest in the company; others claimed they were recruited in the months or weeks before Dora Maar announced its closing. Some sold clothing on behalf of their own clients, which meant they owed money elsewhere. One was told that a Dora Maar employee's mother had purchased her handbag; another said her items were bought by an employee. Advertisement None of the women had been paid since April, they claimed — with insult added to injury as they watched Taylor post glamorous pictures from her European travels. 'It was very alluring' Kate Easton, an actress in New York, is also waiting to get paid for her items. Easton, who declined to give her age, was asked to pose for a spring campaign to promote Dora Maar. 'The mutually agreed-upon terms were that they would sell my luxury items and I would receive commission for each of my items sold,' said Easton, who also posted on Instagram about Dora Maar events and clothing. Easton reached out many times over the next few months about the non-payment and was eventually told that the company was shutting down and wouldn't be able to pay her commission from sales — nor were they able to return her sold items. 'It's disappointing and unfortunate that I was never paid for two of my luxury items that were sold on their site,' she said. 12 Clare Hardy called the company 'predatory' for its alleged actions. Courtesy Clare Hardy ''Predatory' — that's the best word I can describe for what the experience was for me,' Clare Hardy, 39, claimed. Hardy said Wilson messaged her online and invited her to become a muse in March. Hardy, who works at a large tech conglomerate and runs a website called The Haute Lady, was just starting out in the luxury resale space and was flattered that someone of Wilson's stature deemed her muse-worthy. 'I was blown away that a very small, brand-new creator like me would even get that type of attention,' Hardy said. 'The thought was, 'Oh, I was handpicked to be a muse.' It was very alluring.' 12 Hardy claimed she was 'targeted' as a 'new creator who didn't know what the heck she was doing.' Courtesy Clare Hardy She assembled about 15 items, shelled out roughly $2,000 on a photo shoot of her wearing them and sent everything from her home in Atlanta to New York. 'It's like I was targeted because I was a new creator who didn't know what the heck she was doing,' said Hardy, who has not been repaid the $4,000 she estimates she is owed. (She did receive her unsold clothes, minus an Hermès bracelet.) 12 She spent $2,000 on a photoshoot for the company and listed about 15 items. Courtesy Clare Hardy 'Emotional betrayal' Natalia Zemliakova, a stylist in New York who declined to give her age, was also 'discovered' by Dora Maar on Instagram in late March. Like other women, she appreciated the company's ethos. 'With The RealReal, it's so impersonal,' Zemliakova said. 'You basically send your clothes to a warehouse, and they don't communicate with you. They don't tell you how much they will pay — you just ship it, and they decide everything on their own.' 12 Hardy recalled thinking, ''Oh, I was handpicked to be a muse.' It was very alluring.' Courtesy Clare Hardy But this was different. Zemliakova sent about 15 pieces, including a vintage Yves Saint Laurent jacket. 'I warned them, 'If you guys sell it for a super-low price, just tell me because I'd rather keep it,'' she said. Dora Maar seemed to understand the emotional turmoil that often accompanies closet evacuation, and the company promised to adhere to her request — which, she said, they did. But she says she is still owed $1,000 for three items that sold. 12 Natalia Zemliakova is still owed $1,000 for three items that sold. Courtesy Natalia Zemliakova 'It's almost an emotional betrayal,' said Zemliakova. 'They were selling these clothes, and the person who bought them basically paid for the thing, right? They were supposed to take 50 percent, and 50 percent goes to me. So why can't they pay for it?' Neither Wilson nor her lawyer, Daniel Weberman, responded to questions. Solis declined to comment. According to a report by Bain & Company, in 2024 the global secondhand luxury goods market grew to an estimated 48 billion EUR (more than 50 billion US), outpacing the sales of new luxury goods. The online second-hand market accounts for approximately 50% of the total second-hand market. But it's not regulated. 12 Zemliakova called it 'emotional betrayal.' 'Why can't they pay for it?' she asked. Courtesy Natalia Zemliakova John Breyault, a fraud expert with consumer advocacy organization the National Consumers League, said it was difficult to say if anything illegal took place. 'If they promised a lot of things and didn't deliver on them over a sustained period of time, or they were not upfront about what would happen if the company went out of business, that could be something I would expect an attorney general to look at,' he said. Suk said she was blocked by Wilson's personal account after posting the video and hopes to prevent others from falling victim to what she called an 'irresponsible entrepreneur.' 'Her point to people was, 'We're a small company, and there are risks,'' she explained. 'No! That's something you tell your investors, not your sellers. Don't use the terms 'sustainability' and 'community' — especially when you're going to end up exploiting that community.'
New York Times
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
The Last Surrealist
It was Paris in the late 1950s, and Jean-Claude Silbermann knew where the Surrealists met every evening from 5 to 6 p.m. He waited outside Le Musset, a cafe between the Palais Royal and the Louvre, until André Breton — the writer and poet who led the fluctuating, anarchic group — emerged with about 15 of his acolytes. 'I didn't know how to do anything. I hadn't even written any poems,' Silbermann, now 90, said. 'It was ridiculous, but I went straight over to him and said: 'You are André Breton. I am Jean-Claude Silbermann. I'm a Surrealist.' At the time, and now, Silbermann thought of Surrealism as a frame of mind, a way of being in the world, and at its heart is revolt. Breton told the young man to join the nightly meetings whenever he wanted. Born in 1935 in Boulogne-Billancourt, on the western outskirts of Paris, Silbermann cut ties with his family as a teenager, leaving home to try his hand at poetry instead of joining his father's successful hat making business. 'I loved poetry since I was a little boy. At 18, I read 'Alcools,' by Guillaume Apollinaire. I opened the book, and when I closed it, the world had changed,' he told me, his French gallerist Vincent Sator, and the critic and art historian Philippe Dagen, on a recent sunny afternoon in Paris at Galerie Sator in the Marais, where some of the artist's enigmatic works hung on one wall. From the leafy suburbs of Paris, the young Silbermann traveled to Oslo and then Copenhagen, where he hitchhiked, worked on cargo boats and sometimes read palms to make a meager living. 'It was a con, but it paid for my cigarettes, my room and my food,' he said. 'It was a very pleasant life.' Back in Paris a few years later with a wife and a child, he acceded to pressure from his father to work in the family trade but was miserable with his bourgeois lifestyle. 'I gained 15 kilos in three months,' he said. 'Fifteen kilos of anxiety. Fifteen kilos of anguish.' His fateful meeting with Breton brought him back to poetry and, later, painting, both of which remain critical in life. In 2024 Dagen introduced Silbermann to Sator, whose grandmother Simone Khan was Breton's first wife. She was an active member of the Surrealists and opened her own gallery after World War II, to champion the movement's artists. And from May 8 to May 11, at the Independent Art Fair in Manhattan — just over 100 years after Breton wrote his first 'Manifesto of Surrealism' — Sator is showing Silbermann's colorful works filled with dreamlike imagery in the United States for the first time. Last fall, Silbermann's canvases, which are mounted on wood and cut into various shapes with a saw, were shown at the Pompidou's blockbuster 'Surrealism' exhibition, one of many global exhibitions to celebrate the movement's centenary. The show eschewed chronology for a spiraling maze of themes — dreams, the chimera, political monsters, the night, eros and more — that traced Surrealist tendencies all the way back to ancient Greece. 'Listen, I was very happy I was the only Surrealist alive in the exhibition. All the others were dead,' Silbermann told us in the gallery when asked what it was like to be part of a momentous historical retrospective. 'Maybe not for long, but still, I was the only one alive, and that was a lot of fun.' He insists that Surrealism — 'an attitude toward the world, not a stamp you put on a passport,' he said — is not over. The museum, the past, can only teach you so much: It is 'a great tomb, we have to do something else. Me, it's over, but the young people will interpret Surrealism in new ways,' he said humbly. 'I am the last Surrealist alive, but not the only living Surrealist.' Sator said that he will be showing 'young works,' with nearly all paintings made from 2021 to 2024. Only 'Vous Partez Déja?' ('You're already leaving?') is from earlier. That 2009 work shows a bright yellow bird, its feathers flecked with light, clutching two dusky pink and purple skulls as it takes flight. Golden foliage sprouts from the feathers atop its head. 'I have a taste for intellectual provocation,' Silbermann said. 'I never know what I'm going to do when I start working. This is not extraordinarily original. But I stop working when I don't understand it, when it escapes me. That's when I tell myself that it's over, because all of a sudden, I don't understand anything about it.' He has trouble with titles but is happy with 'You're Already Leaving?,' which he realized after it was finished must be a portrait of himself and his wife, Marijo. When I asked who the bird is, he laughed and did not answer. He and Marijo now live on the island of Port-Cros and Sannois, a Paris suburb. Sigmund Freud's theory of the unconscious has been important to Silbermann, as it was to many of his peers. He also talks about ideas like intuitive knowledge over reason, of the importance of the unknown, of being entangled in your life and art, and of having the profound desire, as well as the courage, to pursue art. 'There are better things to do with your life,' he said of his art practice, 'but I couldn't do anything else. I didn't have a choice. I had to be an artist. Surrealism is courage, fantasy, liberation, revolt.' In some works, figures move through fantastical scenes, locked in ambiguous courtship, becoming one with animals or landscapes, as in 'L'Attente et Le Moment du Fruit Orange' ('The Wait and the Moment of Orange Fruit,' 2024), or 'L'Attente et Le Moment du Blason' ('The Wait and the Moment of the Shield,' 2021-2022). Other pieces may be read as psychological stages both pained and transcendent. 'L'Attente et Le Moment de La Nuit' ('The Wait and the Moment of Night,' 2023) and 'L'Attente et Le Moment de L'Arc-En-Ciel' (The Wait and the Moment of the Rainbow,' 2022) feature writhing, nightmarish figures. 'La Nuit' is ominous, while 'L'Arc-En-Ciel' has a sense of release: The monsters take up only the lower half of the image, which is otherwise serene, with two men hovering weightlessly. These artworks appear slight from afar, but up close they possess a quiet luminosity and — even when dark — a sense of combinatorial play and tongue-in-cheek titles that also defined Silbermann's early work. In 1965, he created the centerpiece for the 11th International Exhibition of Surrealism. Entitled 'Le Consommateur' ('The Consumer'), the giant sculpture was a figure made from what he called a 'disgusting pink mattress' with a siren for its head, an open fridge for its back and a washing machine for its gut, in which daily newspapers tumbled over and over. Silbermann said that he is political in his life as a citizen, but not in his art. The stories he tells of his life bear witness to the violence and turmoil of the 20th century, and yet carry humor, amazement, modesty, optimism. He told of the French German Dadaist Hans Arp, who evaded conscription in World War I by filling in his papers with the correct details but then adding them all up in a vague column of nonsense — 'a recipe for imbecility.' To Silbermann this was not just chance or fate but play in the face of life and death. 'It's beautiful,' he said. He told of the relative of a friend in the World War II French Resistance who made a daring escape from the Gestapo. At the end of the war, Silbermann, who is Jewish, and his extended family were hiding in a house in the hills while his father served in the Resistance. German soldiers arrived and burned the house to the ground, giving the group just 10 minutes to escape. Silbermann described the fire as transfixing, Sator told me. In 1960, along with many other French intellectuals, Silbermann signed the 'Manifesto of the 121,' an open letter opposing the Algerian War, in which he refused to serve. Wracked and disoriented by the conflict, Silbermann was nearly driven to suicide, he said. He was ill for three years and couldn't write poetry any longer. At the suggestion of a friend, he began to paint. During our interview, he smiled and said it came more easily than poetry, quoting an old jazz standard: 'It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing.' Then he adapted the sentence, perhaps so it covered the relationship between art and life: 'if you don't have this thing, you don't have anything.'
