"This goes back to before the 1980s. I was a shy, rather podgy teenager. One evening, my father, who worked in artist copyright protection, took me to the opening of the Fiac at the Grand Palais. There I was, under the glass roof, strolling around proudly, with a glass of champagne, getting an eyeful of some pretty strange exhibits! Stuff I'd never seen before: contemporary art. It was inventive, insolent, colourful, forthright: there were ideas, gaiety and joie de vivre everywhere.
In the middle of one of the aisles, a young woman wearing plenty of make-up but precious little else, was sitting astride a chair and – for a nominal fee – offering passers-by a kiss. This was strictly art of course…
Now that I was a contemporary art cognoscenti, and, probably with help from the champagne, I plucked up the courage and decided there were worse ways to use my pocket money. This turned out to be some experience: no ordinary Hollywood job. This was a proper French kiss, with a deep, enterprising tongue. The whole capped by a gorgeous smile.
It was also my first ever 'real' kiss. Long live art at the Grand Palais!"
Yves Castelain – March 25 2009
Director of the Castel1 agency
