Wednesday 2 May 2012

Bono remembers Le Brocquy as a mentor unforgettable


Bono, U2's leader, spoke about his friendship with the artist Louis Le Brocquy, who died last week. He attended the memorial service for the painter in the Irish St. Patrick's Cathedral on Saturday in Dublin.

Over the weekend, Bono recalled fondly "tours, lunches and dinners" that he shared with the artist, whom he called "old friend". He also told how he got "a little scared" when the painter captured his portrait as a "big head exploding" and as a favor to Bono, he once passed on a copy of the album 'The Unforgettable Fire' to his friend Samuel Beckett.

      


"He was a kind of mentor to young artists. The fact that I and Edge will not be painters, did not prevent us. He let us in, and Anne (the artist Anne Madden, wife of Le Brocquy) also. They were great educators, "Bono told RTE radio.

The singer told how he and his best friend, the artist Guggi, Le Brocquy exhibition attended as teenagers. "Guggi and I used to go and see his work when we were young. We could not believe it. We would like to stop, look and try but could not discover. We knew we had something going and it was worth trying to understand, and those were paintings of heads ... That's when the fascination started for us. "

His friendship with the painter began when Bono had his early 20s and "did not know much about the world, but he (Louis) seemed to know everything. He could slow down the molecules in the whole world. He spoke so calmly and everyone wanted their stillness. I have a personality much more kinetic and anarchic, so I was attracted to it. Edge is a bit like him. '


The artist painted Bono on two occasions. A picture released in 2003, is now in the National Gallery.

"If you're a famous person, people just look at you. He seemed to look the other you, "Bono said. "He was really interested in finding out who you were, and then when I saw that my huge painting in the National Gallery, was a little afraid. It was a big head exploding. I was thinking, I was not sure where to put that head. It was a strange feeling to be one of the overwhelming themes of these paintings, "he said.


Bono revealed how Le Brocquy bowed to him talking about his friends Samuel Beckett and Francis Bacon. "I used to bother him all the time about characters like Samuel Beckett. 'What's he like,' I asked. And he replied 'I should talk about his work with Sam,' and I said, 'Really, you do that?'. Then in 1984 I autographed a copy of the album 'The Unforgettable Fire' and I gave him. He told me that Sam likes to know what is happening in Dublin, music and movies and everything else. "






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