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I was amazed when I first saw Grace Jones. |
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She was the first to take radical fashion out of its predictable Parisian context and bring it into the music scene, where I had always thought it belonged. |
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The first night watching her in Le Mouche, I had already decided to work with her. |
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That night, she was singing her hit song "I Need a Man" to a room full of shrieking gay bobbysockses. |
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The ambiguity of her act was that she herself looked like a man - a man, singing "I Need a Man" to a bunch of men. |
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I could see how the average guy would find her physique intimidating. |
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It was so powerful. I thought she was.. I thought she was great. |
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I photographed her in different positions. |
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I cut her legs apart, lengthened them, turned her body to face the audience. |
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Soon, I found myself living to the very fast rhythm of Grace Jones. |
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We would go out dancing, all night, every night. |
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I was completely neglecting my work. |
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An intense, hysterical romance developed between Grace and I. |
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But I ran out of money and realised I had to stop all this bullshit and go back to work. |
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I had this idea of using Grace as the ideal veichle. She had inspired me. |
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On tour, we used to improvise. Thinking of an idea at breakfast and working it out directly on stage. |
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I decided, deliberately, to mythologise Grace Jones. |
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Black, shiny, muscular people.. ahh, aerodynamic in design. |
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Twas to emphasise this physique that I painted Grace Jones blue/black. |
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I am no longer sure what I fell in love with; Grace or my idea of what Grace should be. |
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But in the two years following the birth of our son, there were nothing else in my life. |
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Grace let me take her over completely. |
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(SLAVE!) |
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But then I discovered that what I was making was simply too far beyond what was there. |
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By the time our 'One Man Show' reached the US, I knew I'd lost her. |
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Oh, the action.. |
