Connaught boss Paddy brings Dylan’s work to his Chateau Kingdom in Provence
Moston, Manchester 10, for whatever reason, was my life’s hometown. Grimy, dark, dreary and rainy.
I don’t remember too much about it really, it was such a long time ago…
I can still see though rundown cottages on Moston Lane, they were crumbing buttresses to the Byronic Simpson Memorial library. Then there were the Gothic turrets and pungent beer stenches of the Blue Bell … feral children and stray cats scurrying at your ankles at the dower and paint-peeling Moston Imperial Palace.
The Mip had been a magnificent old cinema until, in the late 60s, they filled it with tacky market stalls, battered cans of beans, stinking cheese and fresh Eccles cakes.
As a child though, I remember listening to the trains in the rain at midnight. Stars were twinkling and I was all ready to hitch a dream-ride.
The trains were off in the distance but I could hear them, mournful whistles, click-clack of tracks, ‘faster than fairies, faster than witches, Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches’
Yep, dreams of iron and steel.
Even as a teenager I rode those trains every day in to town. I would watch the world become frozen inside its television windows.
Trains used to be the past heading in to the future.
And now Bob Dylan’s train has literally stopped off in Provence, southern France, and is parked a the bottom of hotels boss Paddy McKillen’s garden.
Bob’s biggest sculpture to date – made out of wheels, cycle parts and tools – is called Rail Car, and is a permanent exhibit at Château La Coste, a 600-acre sculpture park.
Trains are part of his past, says Dylan. Rail Car represents the illusions of a journey rather than the “contemplation of one”.
Bob, coming up 81 years old, said: “The train represents perception and reality at the same time… all the iron is recontextualised to represent peace, serenity and stillness.”
He also spoke of the piece’s “enormous energy”.
Bob’s metal artworks were first shown to the public in 2013 when a set of iron gates called Mood Swings were exhibited at London’s Halcyon Gallery. 
Dylan hails from Hibbing, in Minnesota which is home of one of the largest open iron ore pits in the world. said: “I’ve been around iron all my life, ever since I was a kid. I was born and raised in iron ore country, where you could breathe it and smell it every day.”
Château La Coste is the brainchild of Irish businessman Paddy McKillen, it is not just a working vineyard producing biodynamic wines, tasting facilities and a clutch of restaurants, galleries and more. It is also home to a range of ambitious architectural bonnes bouches from some of the greatest names in the profession.
And now Bob’s Rail Car has made it to its final destination, the rolling and thundery landscape of Provence.
And now Bob’s Rail Car has made it to its final destination, the rolling and thundery landscape of Provence.
#bobdylan #art #metalsculpture #Provence #Château La Coste #Paddy McKillen #connaught
