WTC > paintings

In New York : 11 Septembre, James Hanlon pleaded with a beautiful conviction for a reconstruction identical to that of the vanished Twin Towers (see text of the Manifesto painting in the Paintings section).
Alike that of Rudy Giuliani, his statement had come to support strongly my own feeling and thinking. Consequently, the letter addressed to James Hanlon that did accompany the paintings routed to New York City explained clearly to him the reasons for my approach : I wrote that his conviction had moved me deeply, and convinced me that the ideas reflected by my paintings were legitimate. Hence I proposed to let him have those works but in return, I made clear that I expected that he would do everything possible to show these paintings and communicate their concept to the New Yorkers. Because my work had been primarily done for the latter and their city -and for no one else.
At this stage of the story, we must remember that the dusk of 2002 was a very special period, when all the projects looking for a "reconstruction" of Ground Zero were in competition, and submitted to the public's verdict. This was a subject of major and fierce debates, which kept busy the medias and all minds : at the time that I brought these paintings in America, everything was still possible for the New Yorkers to decide which option they favored for the future of their city. That is, which meaning and shape they wished to give to the future of what was henceforth the "Ground Zero" field of fuming ruins.

However, back to the end of summer 2002 when I started my paintings, we were not there yet. By then, only one question arose : how could I get in touch with James Hanlon? I had no means of contacting him directly. In 2002, today’s social networks simply did not exist. Contacting Hanlon’s Fire Station by postal mail or by telephone seemed risky and counterproductive to me : the chances of joining the fireman directly by calling his Fire Unit were pretty slim, especially in a post-September 11 context which obviously made cautious everyone involved in this tragedy, because of medias’ turmoil, not mentioning weird or ill-intentioned people's harassment.

Thus my attempt could easily be lost in vain calls poorly transmitted -if not relayed at all even. On the other hand, I had a possibility to contact directly Gédéon Naudet, thanks to a friend in Paris who knew about my project and who worked into movie production. As a TV production manager, that friend had access to the contact details of any professionals.
This is how I could eventually talk to Gédéon Naudet, calling him in New York and telling him about my project. Once knowing my intentions in respect of his co-author and director fireman, he agreed that we would speak again in New York whenever the paintings would be there -presumably by the end of 2002, as I informed him. He confirmed that he would then facilitate contact with James Hanlon with whom he had shot their film, and with whom he and his brother Jules were close at that time.

As I mentionned, the work that I had started at the beginning of September 2002 was completed in December 2002. Therefore, I could land in New York on the 16th of December 2002 with the container of rolled canvases in the plane’s hold. The paintings were deposited on the morning of December 18 to be stretched on wood frames at Baobab Art Framing, at the time located on East 12th Street (today, the company is located in Brooklyn). Once that task done, the company’s owner Barry Frier very kindly organized the paintings' transportation by a delivery company, which dropped off in the morning of December 19 the wrapped set of stretched paintings with my letter of explanation for James Hanlon, at the Fire Station where he worked.
Within the next two hours, I called Gédéon Naudet who instantly picked up the phone. The director was warm and cordial, telling me that he and Hanlon had spoken on the phone just before : noticed by the Fire Station, the fireman had rushed to see the paintings. According to Gédéon Naudet, James Hanlon was very supportive and impressed by them and the project. He assured me that his friend was to call me quickly -aware that my stay in New York was short. I was told that we would meet while I was around to discuss the project, and see what could be done next. I thus hung up the phone in a confident state of mind.