BIO BLOUM


1971 Birth in Bali, in the jungle while a volcano was exploding. Road Baby. Balinese myths and myth of my own birth. Voyages. Greece and Crete contribute to a continuing sense of myth.

1976 initiation to the American Life, the year Star Wars comes out.
Growing up in different Parisian neighborhoods. Graphic Novels and Comic Books are appreciated early on.

The 1968 revolutionaries, the hippies (not necessarily peaceful), the travelers, the in crowd, the gurus, the intellectuals, the crazy artists, the king of the Swiss.

1980 a school year in the US in a large church going family. Quite a Contrast. Return to Paris. Different schools.

1982 meet André Cardenas (Bouba).

1985 to 1991 start work on Niki de Saint Phalle Archives (my grandmother).

1986 trip to New York City and New Mexico. In San Felipe on Saint Philip’s day and taken by my uncle Philip to a Native-American ceremony with about 1000 dancers, guided in families creating organic and mathematical patterns about their mythology. The trip continues in Mexico.

1987 trip to Argentina and Brazil. Shock. Contrast between beauty and children’s terrible reality (plastic bags).
Back in Paris, the Hecatumb around me beguins. Hip Hop explosion.

1988 the Baccalaureate.

1989 intern then Production Assistant at “Du Cote de Chez Fred” (TV show).

1990 move to NYC with Bouba. Trash is beautiful and everywhere There is thinking behind the enormous quantity, recyclable or not. Hills of daily trash.

1991 begin parsons School of Design. First in Illustration, then Fine Arts.

1993 birth of my son Djamal. A few shows at school, jobs like at the Elizabeth Dow Ltd. Interior Design. BFA in 1996. Cover up of main Parsons building lobby with plastic bags, it can be seen from the corner 13 St./ 5th Ave.

1997 move to San Francisco and birth of Dawn, my daughter.

1999-2000-2001= plastic-bag-paintings. Work on web sites and Niki’s archives in San Diego. Trip to Cuba to visit sculptor Agustin Cardenas, Bouba’s father.
More and more plastic bags. An International network of friends and family collecting bags since NY 1995.

2002 San Francisco Show at Refusalon and in the home of collector Foster-Goldstrom, a house made by architect Bernard Maybeck in Oakland for Culturelouge (see culturelounge.com).