Gilbert Pastor (1932-2015), Tourtour, oil on panel

  
I was born on March 15, 1932 in Marseille. I was living with my parents in "Roucas", on Martinique Street. 1935 - My father, a carpenter-cabinetmaker, passed away and my mother was left alone with me. Trinité (that's her name) then decided to make hats and became a milliner. 1938 - On the eve of the war, I was taken in by my maternal grandparents in Mane (Haute Provence). Despite the war, this period remains forever etched in my memory as happy memories.

There, I went to school, built treehouses, had many friends, and rode my bike for miles... I drew on every piece of paper, in the margins of my notebooks. I was given a box of paint and started painting everything I saw, everything I discovered.

1944 - My mother came to get me back to Marseille, it was a kind of heartbreak to leave that tender grandmother. I returned to school (but as a boarder), at Abbé Fouques' school. I learned very little, I was humiliated, punished.

I struggled a lot with this violent education. 1946 - I enrolled in the Fine Arts of Marseille as well as an apprenticeship in the trade of artisan-cabinetmaker. I also did various odd jobs to earn some money for the household: window dresser, sign painter, painting billboards...

1948/1949 - During the holidays, I went back to Mane with immense joy. It was there that I met the artist Boris Bojnev for the first time. I showed him my drawings, my little paintings; he encouraged me, supported me, and taught me many things. He allowed me to collaborate on his work and intervene in his work. He gave me the confidence to modify or transform the character of some of his "naive" paintings, which he then framed with reclaimed materials, wood fragments, rags, papers, ceramics, etc.

Finally, he gave me confidence in myself and a love for reading, especially the poetry he loved and introduced into his paintings. Gilbert Pastor at 16 in Mane. 1952 - My mother, who had remarried in the meantime (and was widowed again), met Bojnev and fell madly in love with him.

The year of military service in Salon-de-Provence: eighteen months of suffering! The death of my grandmother, immense sorrow. 1954 - Back to Marseille; I continued to collaborate with Bojnev, but mostly I took on all the odd jobs that came my way.

1956 - Algeria, back under military service... Gone for six months, stayed for a year!

Trinité went to see the commander of the army and told him: "If my son dies, I'll kill de Gaulle"! 1958/1968 - To earn some money, I went back to painting signs for "Vins Kiravi" - the wine that delights... Resumed evening classes at the Fine Arts with "live models". I felt myself improving in drawing.

After classes, I continued to paint in my room, but space was lacking. Few or very few true friends in Marseille. New odd job: painting all sorts of wooden objects during the day, skittles, horses...

During these years, I briefly met Louis Pons at my place where he had come with Suzanne Valabrègue, for whom my mother had altered clothes. We can't say we became "friends" (we met several times), but I have great admiration for his work. 1969 - Death of Bojnev.

Trinité (whom Boris called "Chips") was lovesick. She didn't want to stay in Marseille anymore and wanted to move to Aups in Var, with a neighbor she knew. We spent summers in Aups and came back down to Marseille in the winter.

During these vacation months, I often went to Forcalquier to meet friends: Lucien Henry, Pierre Magnan, Olivier Baussan... Lulu (Lucien Henry) was working on his Bojnev museum project; I gave him all the canvases I had of him. 1973 - During a Bojnev retrospective at the Flayosc Museum, I met Nicolas Valabrègue, in his twenties; he introduced me to his brothers: Frédéric, José... We formed a cheerful group!

Chips decided to live in Aups year-round! I commuted by bus to Marseille..

Marseille where, despite the limited space, I worked on my passion in the evenings. The paintings I made at this time were almost all given to the people around me. It was during this period that I painted the one Bernard Noël would call "La Joconde". Other paintings, reliquaries, "La Rue close", framed with cardboard, "L'Accouchement", the cheeky atmospheres of streets, cities, brothels... My evenings, my nights were very busy!

1975 - Lucien Henry gave me the money to buy the house in Aups, on Rosette Cioffi Street, and I finally left the apartment in Marseille. In this narrow house, I set up my studio on the third floor, under the roof. The space, even if not very large, seemed immense to me! I didn't take long to fill it... I made a real easel for myself and organized the "set" with the model, the little bed, and the mirror.

I painted from night to morning. It was all I thought about! A friend of Nicolas came to the studio one day, accompanied by Paul Gauzit; he was very interested in my work. Everything happened very quickly after that. 1977 - First exhibition at Lutrin, at Gauzit's in Lyon.

My dream finally came true. 1980/1988 - Through Frédéric Valabrègue, I exhibited at La Touriale and La Villa R.

Trips to Spain, Italy with him and his brother José, it was wonderful! We stayed in cottages, ate in tapas bars, and had drinks! A great shock in Toledo at El Greco's house, at the Prado Museum in Madrid seeing all the Goya and Zurbarán. On the way back, the train stopped at a station where there was a wine festival... Granada, the gardens of the Alhambra... During the same period, a car trip with Nicolas and Marjolaine to the Netherlands. Wonderful landscapes of France that I discovered. Amsterdam, there too, the shock, the Rembrandt... The Van Gogh and Frans Hals museums... Magnificent collections, an unforgettable memory. Then I met Christian Guez, Jean-Pierre Sintive whom I met in Draguignan at a group exhibition. We hit it off and during a second visit to my studio, Jean-Pierre asked me to illustrate "L'Approche", a book by Pierre-Albert Jourdan for his Unes Editions. Then he introduced me to Bernard Noël and Jean-Louis Giovannoni with whom I would collaborate on about ten joint works.

I was very happy and flattered to participate in these books and especially to meet their authors, writers, and poets whom I admire, who have become friends. During that time, I met the painter Armand Avril on a bus...

We got to know each other, he made me laugh (again and again), I was amazed, as he was funnier, more daring, less shy than me, his boldness left me speechless! I liked the man as much as his work, which in my opinion, is one of the purest in contemporary creation.

1989 - After hours and hours of driving, I finally got my driver's license at 57, and on the first try! I could finally move around as I pleased, go see friends in Cotignac without having to ask anyone, and especially take my mother for walks.

I went to the first garage in Draguignan and bought a Peugeot 206. Trinité was thrilled, I took her for rides, we stopped, she fell asleep in her recliner, I painted my first watercolors, my first landscapes. That same year, Yves Peyré introduced me to Odile Serfati, the director of the Philip gallery in Paris. She came to the studio, liked my work, and an exhibition followed shortly after.

Very professional, she expanded the circle of fans of my work in the Paris region. At the same time, I exhibited again at Lutrin in Lyon and worked a lot. 1991 - Another beautiful encounter with Micheline Ollier who also came to the studio and bought some of my drawings, encouraging me to exhibit in her Berlioz gallery in Sausset-les-Pins. A great friendship blossomed with this sensitive and passionate art lover. She introduced me throughout the Marseille area.

1993 - My mother was getting older, but I didn't want to admit it... She declined, weakened, and her deterioration made me sad. She passed away in May 1993. 1996 - I met Yveline Gatau at an opening at the Atys gallery in Aups. I immediately liked her naturalness, spontaneity, joy of life while I was going through a rather gloomy period of life...

I moved to another house in Aups and Yveline encouraged me in the renovations. I no longer felt alone, she gave me confidence in the future, which we would soon share together..

In this new place, I tried to recreate my studio from Rosette Cioffi Street, to find my usual light, habits, and mess in a way... Now, I feel good there, I have found my interiority, it's my place, my vital space. A new gallery had just opened in Trans-en-Provence with Stéphanie Ferrat and Jean-Pierre Sintive.

Beautiful exhibitions accompanied by readings: an artistic and poetic blend. I had two exhibitions there and a new book with Jean-Louis Giovannoni.

The closure of this gallery in 2010 following the floods in the Var affected me greatly. In the summer, Béatrice Soulié visited us; she was a very dynamic and generous woman. In her Parisian gallery, she had exhibited Pons, Avril, I was the missing piece to complete the trio!

Since the Philip gallery had closed, I exhibited there shortly after with success. 2007 - Micheline Ollier closed the Berlioz gallery and introduced me to Michael Hall, who opened a gallery in Aix-en-Provence... 2012 - On March 15, I turned 80 with many projects in mind. Yveline is full of imagination!

Last year: New York, marvelous! I don't feel myself aging, I paint, I draw, I am happy.