L’histoire du vélo rouge

Pretty friends for a fun show

I am always amazed at young women with three children who have a life : artist Noémie de Yturbe is one of them, who juggles with being the PR of a golf club and creates, mostly at night, the most fun and entertaining drawings with ink and watercolor. The opening of her show at Arthème galerie in the heart of  Faubourg St Germain, was a warm and happy occasion, with all her beautiful girlfriends laughing away at her success.

“Toi et moi”, with ladybugs riding on the wheel

She manages to show around fifty drawings on the theme of the bicycle. Paris has become full of cyclers, whether they ride velib or their own colorful bicycles. And she captures them at all times of the day, with very special details that are invented or real. I love her ladybugs on wheels and the use she makes of bicycle chains to write messages. Also the children bicycle with four wheels.

Anagramme

She was telling us that one night at midnight, she realised that velo (short for bicycle in French) was the anagram of love and vole (fly) and that became a great drawing. « Roues libres » is another fun composition where wheels look like multicolor Japanese umbrellas.

Noémie de Yturbe, the super mom turned artist in front of “Pièces détachées”

Noémie has a special quality: she is completely genuine, which is becoming very rare these days. She laughs all the time and communicates her energy to her drawings. I particularly liked the more abstract ones, which developed later in the drawing process. « Pièces détachées » could have sold four times for the geometry of the cycle and the smoothness of the chain and accessories is so attractive ! « Le Trésor au mur », treasure in the wall, is fabulous with its wall of bricks, « La résistance bleue », is what is left over of a stolen bike and it is moving.

Le Trésor du mur

And “le passage”, drawn in one of Paris secret passages, only shows a detail of the handlebar on a tiled floor.  There is a sensitivity and a modesty in Noémie de Yturbe’s art which is so unlike our times, that you will love seeing this show and you will feel good for it.

“Le passage”, is one of my favorites

The prices are also very modest (from 240€ to 1 800€), Arthème galerie, 31 rue de Beaune, until October 1)