Seventies Pop: the songs of my teenage years, in colour
When I was a teenager, there was one day of the week I waited for more than any other: the day my favourite magazines came out, HIT and Salut les copains. I would rush to buy them, read them from cover to cover, and above all, unfold the posters.
Claude François, Sheila, Stone et Charden, Ringo, Joe Dassin… They all ended up pinned to my bedroom wall. It was a happy time for me, full of joy and bursting with colour. A time of freedom: “freedom” was our great slogan.
And not on just any wall: I had painted my bedroom walls navy blue and the ceiling Majorelle blue! Believe me, the posters really stood out. But when the time came to paint the room white again, it took many, many, many coats. I think my father finally gave up and found a solution with wallpaper to cover it all up.
Painting while singing
When I started this series, I made a playlist of all those hits and played it loud in the studio. I sang while I painted. Each canvas is named after a song from those years: La Maritza by Sylvie Vartan, Sur la plage abandonnée by Brigitte Bardot, Les Gondoles à Venise by Sheila and Ringo…
I didn't paint the singers or the lyrics. I painted what those songs make me feel: shapes that fit together like a chorus, bold colours side by side, purple, turquoise, red, green. Nothing grey, nothing too serious. It's the energy of being fifteen.
Only three canvases left
La Maritza
Sylvie Vartan, 1968
Sur la plage abandonnée
Brigitte Bardot, 1963
Les Gondoles à Venise
Sheila and Ringo, 1973
40 × 40 cm · acrylic on canvas · original work, one of a kind, with a certificate of authenticity
They are small on purpose: they fit on a shelf, in a hallway, in a corner that needs a little sunshine. And put together, they make a wall that sings.
See the Pop Seventies collection
Would you like to see them in person? I welcome visitors to my studio in Ericeira, by appointment: send me a message on WhatsApp. And if you live far away, no problem: we'll do a WhatsApp video call and I'll show you the canvases up close.
And you, which song from those years takes you straight back to being fifteen? Tell me, I'll add it to my studio playlist.
With all my joy,
Lenon B
Contemporary painter, Ericeira, Portugal