Art: Cyril Larvor
THE SPARROW
The party functionary went down the stairs of the metro at Victory Station. He came to the fare gate, where a female clerk in uniform was standing. She looked at his flag badge, accepted his ticket, and placed it in a slot.
He made his way to the escalator, descended for a while, and, at the bottom, walked with the crowd through a tunnel and went down another staircase to the train platform.
He was tired, but there was nowhere to sit. He leaned against a newspaper stand, next to an old woman and four senior middle-school boys in sports jackets. As he rested, he heard chirping, and he wondered how a bird had found its way so far into the station.
The sound was distinct and loud and noticeable. He looked around, but he could not find the source. He turned to the high ceiling. That was where the chirping was coming from, he thought. The bird had entered the ventilation system and could not get out.
His train arrived. Passengers stepped out. He and the others on the platform stepped in. He liked the last car because a seat was always available there.
The doors closed, and he sat between an old man and a young woman, making sure not to nudge the woman. She shifted. The train moved. He heard the chirping again.
Maybe the chirping was from the train loudspeakers, he thought. Maybe the train workers believed chirping was relaxing. The old man at his left lurched.
The train stopped at Unification Station. A few people got off. The train started and rattled. He glanced at the skin of the young woman’s upper arm. Suddenly, she sprang up as if provoked, and she reseated herself beside the train doors. The old man got up, too.
The party functionary sat alone. He had not provoked either of them, he thought. He had been careful, especially with her. The rattling mixed with the chirping, which he forgot as he thought about the makeup on the young woman’s face.
The train stopped at Triumphal Return Station, where she left, and at Comrade Station.
He disembarked at Red Star Station and walked to the staircase. Ascending, he heard the chirping. The sound was distinct and loud and noticeable. He looked around and down, and there he saw a brass sparrow, staring infinitely, on the handrail.
Art: Cyril Larvor, @cyrillarvor_blackbird
In the artist’s words:
My Black Bird artist name is a wink to the crow who is an animal who is often hated by his appearance as the black cat, but who is also revered by a tremendous amount of culture and seen as one of the smarter animals capable of counting and speaking. Speaking … and I have already seen it.I have always drawn, painted and photographed. I wanted to be a cartoonist in advertising or photography, but I went to study in business and computer science.For 15 years I worked in the directions of information and computer security. 2 years ago I stopped to return in my first love the art and the human. My influences are vast; I was born in the 80s in the northern suburbs of Paris where social and cultural diversity is enormous. The 80s were a huge source of artistic inspiration. In addition to contemporary art and all other movements, there was the appearance in France of graffiti, manga, hip hop, computer science and the evolution of photography and television. All this has to influence. Since my return in the art, I exhibit in the galleries. The Lavomatik, also proposes music, the book …. ART21, a gallery in Montmartre, a district which likes and others a little everywhere.My other activity is in the human and the association. I collaborate with many associations that have been used as a means of communication and income.I collaborated with associations to help orphaned children, children in difficulty, migrants and give them the means to express themselves through Mixart art. An association for the protection of the oceans Bloom.An association against skin cancerAssociations against poverty and exclusion: Emmaus, restaurant of the heart… J organizes painting workshops with children or disabled people and also grafiti classes. My inspirations are unlimited, including painting or in pictures, and I like mixing the two. My philosophical tendencies are in sharing, cohesion and construction or reconstruction away from destruction. My tips are simple. Create with your heart and share your art positively. For my art, I use all media and types of paints, but I have a preference for acrylic and aerosol: street art tools, and for digital photography and desktop publishing. To contact me, I am in the gallery Art21, otherwise by Facebook https://www.facebook.com/The-