I met Ronnie Wood at the Art Gallery in Paris

I could get an invitation for the varnishing day of Ronnie Wood’s exhibition on Friday evening 15th of June in Paris. About 30 paintings are shown. His paintings are really interesting.

A long red carpet was unrolled in front of the gallery. The doors opened at 6:00p.m. Lots of photographers were waiting, but only accredited photographers were allowed to take pictures. The staff insisted: “absolutely no photo, not at all, at least as long as Ronnie Wood is here”.
The gallery was overcrowded. Luxury Champagne was served. Ronnie came at 8:00p.m. He was friendly. However it was very difficult to move towards him. Body guards were so close to him that it was very hard to say a word to him. The men in black repeated: "no photo and no autograph".
Anyway, I did my best and I finally succeeded to be right in front of him. I told him:” Ronnie, you do a great job. You are a great painter and a great musician as well.” He stopped, he put his hand on my shoulder and said “thank you” twice. I asked him an autograph and he signed for me the card of the gallery. He was very nice.
Then he went upstairs with some staff in a private room and came down after a while. He made another tour in the exhibition room before getting away slowly at 8:45p.m.
Among the crowd there was Jean-Pierre Mocky, the French movie maker.

In 2003, Ronnie made another painting exhibition in another art gallery in Paris. I was there too for the varnishing day, but that time, he did not come.
This year, it was nice to see him.

Georges

Thanks for shairng. Sounds like a real cozy, uplifting experience.

Nice story. Thanks for posting

Thank you for sharing this great story.

Excellent, Georges, isn't he nice?

I had the same pleasure right when he was walking into an art exhibit in Las Vegas a couple of years ago. Almost no security with him right then, but I hear things turned into a madhouse later on in the gallery.

Hey Georges....Nice to read...

Guess you could say you've had a brush with Ronnie Wood...!!



ROCKMAN

Georges

Do you know if the gallery is selling Ronnie's catalogue ?

way cool, Georges! uplifting indeed

Doc, I asked for a gallery catalogue. It seems that they do not have a specific catalogue for this special exhibition.
I was given:
- a 40 page booklet published by Scream Art Limited in London in 2005. It contains Ronnie Wood’s Paintings and Drawings (1988 - 2005) and Prints (2004 - 2005). It is mainly image and not much text. In this booklet you can see some of the artworks shown in Paris at the moment.
- a 10 page document written in French for members of the press. On this paper there is a short biography of Ronnie Wood and the comprehensive list of his artworks displayed at the gallery.
- the varnishing card that Ronnie kindly signed when I asked him.

I went to the Art Gallery today. Ron is a talented painter. The location, alond the river Seine and vis à vis The Louvre was redesigned by Jean Novel, a famous french architect, and just by itself is worth the trip. We talked with the owner, a very nice lady who had the chance to talk with each member of the band individually and altogether. She was laudative of them. Talking about their immense respect for their fans.

The men in black
> repeated: "no photo and no autograph".
> Anyway, I did my best and I finally succeeded to
> be right in front of him. I told him:” Ronnie, you
> do a great job. You are a great painter and a
> great musician as well.” He stopped, he put his
> hand on my shoulder and said “thank you” twice. I
> asked him an autograph and he signed for me the
> card of the gallery. He was very nice.

I'm happy for you, it's a lovely story. As always with Ronnie - I've never met him but always felt he was such a nice man.

Ronnie is one of few for whom I'm missing the signature - along with Mick T, and Brian....

I have just returned to the gallery. Actually, they sell the official catalogue of Ronnie’s exhibition for 80€ (eighty Euros). The catalogue has no original signature of Ronnie.

Ronnie is the friendliest stone.

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