I Had Dinner With A Famous Artist

Tuesday night I ventured outside the wall, the peripheral border of the city of Paris, and into the suburbs. I went to my new friend Dana Wyse's house, where she prepared me a beautiful meal, for which I don't think I can ever repay her. Partly because I'm kind of a boring cook, but partly because her graciousness went beyond feeding my body and into feeding my mind and (dare I say it) soul. Dana is an artist and writer. She calls herself a writer, but she became known for work in the context of visual arts. Her story is so delicious I must share it.

She was living and writing on a farm in Ireland for awhile, when the novel she was working on took a different turn. One of the chapters became a pop-up book and I think this is how she ended up in Paris. She worked the bars and nightclubs here and became something of a celebrity in Paris' club culture. A local magazine, like Time Out Paris, ran a feature on her and she was asked to come to a photo shoot.

Before all this, she had an idea. It was a random idea and was probably born out of disillusionment with her writing career. The idea was for a pill: Become a Best-Selling Writer Instantly. She made the pill and the package and kept it in a shoe box, unsure what to do with it. She carried the shoe box around with her obsessively, protecting this idea she had and keeping it close like a security blanket.

At the photo shoot, the editor of Time Out Paris told Dana she'd have to lose the shoe box for the shot. What's in there anyway, she asked. Dana showed her. The editor almost peed her pants. She featured the Best-Selling Writer pills in the next issue and the rest is unbelievable history. Since then, 1996 I think, Dana has produced a bazillion of these pills from Make Your Man Hold Your Hand (fast-acting behaviour modifier for personal use) to Ensure the Heterosexuality of Your Child to Be a Professional Photographer (or just look like one!) to Dead Goldfish Resurrection Powder. Her work is presented in galleries all over Europe (I think she sells in Canada and the US too) and she just released a book about her work called 'How to Turn Your Addiction to Prescription Pills into A Successful Art Career'.

Here's why I love this story: she basically carried her intention around in a shoe box and then it happened. For the Law of Attraction people in the crowd, take freaking heed. It works.

Here's why I love her: she is doing exactly what she loves and she doesn't care what anyone thinks and she's kind and generous and humble and rilly frickin' funny.

Okay, and her house/studio is like the playroom of my dreams. It is filled with magazine from the 60s, dolls, toys, artwork, antique-looking motorcycles, a bearskin rug, Kraft Dinner, a giant pile of How To books from the 70s, quirky kitschy knick knacks, toy guns, comic books. I could spend five years just looking at everything. I was too chicken to bring my camera, but hopefully I didn't get too drunk and make too much of an ass of myself and I'll get invited back.