villeneuve: why i painted my broke apartment into a temporary art installation

i was supposed to be asleep but the streetlights kept flickering like they were trying to tell me something. or maybe they were just broken. either way i dragged my old bike out of the garage and decided to paint the walls. not because i’m some deep artist or whatever. just because the paint can was on the floor and i was bored. i mixed red and blue and ended up with a shade that looked like a bruise. which, honestly, felt pretty accurate.

i just checked and it's...a bit too warm for my paint cans. hope you like that kind of thing. the air smells like old bread and regret. or maybe it's just the humidity. 18%? who counts? i didn’t. my neighbor, mandy, keeps yelling at her cat to stop ‘vandalizing’ the fence. which is just a regular fence. i think she’s overreacting. or maybe the cat is a secret artist. who knows?

"someone told me that the old train station has a hidden mural, but you have to be shafted to find it"

i heard that from a guy at the market. he was selling expired yogurt. i trust him about as much as i trust random internet reviews. which is to say, not at all. but i went anyway. turns out the mural is just a map of where to find illegal Wi-Fi. which is more than i expected.

i took some photos. not professional. just threw my phone in a pail of water and hoped for the best. here’s one of a wall that’s 70% paint and 30% existential crisis.

another photo of a cat judging my life choices. mandy’s cat. probably.

wait why is there a mountain? i thought this was a village. maybe i misread the maps. or maybe the maps are lying. either way, the weather is perfect for chasing shadows. or maybe just for avoiding them. i don’t know. i’m not sure i care.

"i overheard a local say the cafes here are all run by ex-convicts. don’t ask for help. they’ll try to sell you a bag of rocks"

i don’t know if that’s true. but i also don’t know if it’s not. if you get bored, the nearest town has a punk rock bar that plays only 80s metal. which is exactly what i needed. or didn’t. i left after 10 minutes because someone was screaming about taxes.

i just want to paint something. anything. but my hands are too clumsy. or maybe my brain is. i tried to write ‘love’ on the wall but ended up with ‘low’. which is a valid word. maybe. maybe not.

if you want to join me, i’m listing my ‘temporary art’ on eBay for 50 euro. which is a lot. or maybe it’s not. who knows? i’m not sure i trust myself. or the eBay algorithm. or anything really.

here’s a tip: if you see a suspicious spray can, don’t touch it. unless you like getting arrested. which i don’t. i just like the idea of being arrested. it’s a story. but not a good one. probably.

links: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Villeneuve, France https://www.yelp.com/villeneuve-cafe https://www.localartworld.org/secret-graffiti

i’ll leave you with this: the weather here is like a bad relationship. it’s not great. it’s not terrible. it’s just... there. and that’s exactly what i needed. or maybe it wasn’t. who am i to say?

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• https://votoris.com/post/raleighs-sidewalks-tried-to-steal-my-graffiti-supplies-last-night
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• https://votoris.com/post/hyderbd-bro-its-sustainability-20probably-in-another-lifetime
• https://votoris.com/post/lubumbashi-the-copper-capital-that-feels-like-home-even-when-it-doesnt
• https://votoris.com/post/milk-cart-espressos-midnight-panzerotti-what-digital-nomads-actually-eat-in-milan