Sassan Behnam-Bakhtiar in Villa Santo Sospir surrounded by his own sculptures and the artwork of Jean Cocteau
When artist Sassan Behnam-Bakhtiar came across a 1960s film by Jean Cocteau, he was stunned to discover they were both addressing the same ideas in their work. Virginia Blackburn meets him to discuss his new exhibition ? set in the Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat villa that?s full of Cocteau?s creations
Art is the international language: it speaks to the soul, not needing to utilise any mother tongue, and that communication is about to manifest itself in a major new exhibition in the south of France. It speaks across generations, too, to fellow artists and connoisseurs. And this is what happened when the French/Iranian artist Sassan Behnam-Bakhtiar chanced upon a video made in the early 1960s by Jean Cocteau entitled Jean Cocteau Speaks to the Year 2000. ?It was an inspiration,? Behnam-Bakhtiar says. ?He was talking about the same things as me: that humanity is on the wrong path. That it is too robotic rather than humanised. That the global system is against wellbeing and health. Jean Cocteau was talking about this in 1962 and saying, ?Hopefully you guys will have opened your eyes up to it by now.? And when I saw it, I thought, ?Oh my God.? And that?s how it started.? Follow LUX on Instagram: the.official.lux.magazine
The ?it? he refers to is his latest solo exhibition: Oneness Wholeness with Jean Cocteau, housed in the beautiful and plush environs of Villa Santo Sospir at th...