The scrapbook

Gallery of mischief and friends

Conceived in Monaco in 2020, then a travelling joke with a serious brush. Zoia paints the landmarks. The boys bounce in front. Clem is in on the plot. Here are posters, install views and opening-night grins from Paris → Tokyo → New York → Monaco — none of them the product shots already on the shop pages.

Jump: Paris · Tokyo · New York · Monaco

16–20 May 2023 · Paris

Paris: Place des Vosges, free smiles

Galerie Sylvia Rielle, No. 10. Opening night by invitation, then four days of free admission in the Marais. Eiffel ink. Notre-Dame. Arc de Triomphe. Red Boy with arms out like he owns the Champ de Mars. Friends in coats. That soft Paris laugh that means someone just got the joke.

Exhibition poster: Blue Boy and Red Boy, Clem Chambers and Zoia Skoropadenko, 16–20 May 2023, Galerie Sylvia Rielle, Place des Vosges, Paris — The poster. Dates, address, and one very pleased Red Boy beside the Tower.

Stone arcades of Place des Vosges with framed artworks visible inside the gallery — The arcade does the formal bit. Inside, the boys are already misbehaving.

Salon-style hang of many small framed Red Boy and Blue Boy drawings on a white gallery wall — Salon hang. Tiny frames, huge grins. A wall that looks like a friendship group chat.

Gallery interior with drawings on the wall and a view through an arch to Place des Vosges park — Trees outside. Cartoon joy inside. Paris approved.

Silhouettes at the entrance to Galerie Sylvia Rielle under a pink-lit archway — Pull / tirer. Friends step in. The vernissage begins.

Three people laughing and talking at the Paris gallery opening with artworks on the wall behind — Opening-night diplomacy: coats, wine, and pointing at stick arms.

Zoia Skoropadenko in a black beret beside a large white canvas with a red smiling sun drawing — Zoia and a sun that refuses to take itself seriously.

Clem Chambers in a pink beret and orange shirt gesturing in a gallery with landmark drawings on the wall — Clem, mid-plot explanation. Landmark sketches listening politely.

The Meloy’s Paris page

15–20 November 2023 · Tokyo

Tokyo: Paris Comes to Shibuya

Aiiima Gallery, Hikarie complex. Zoia, Clem and Japanese artist Kina Sato brought Paris drawings to Shibuya — and the show also presented Blue Boy and Red Boy in Paris. Torii gates waiting at home. Neon outside. Friendship as cultural exchange, with paint.

Pink poster for Paris Comes to Tokyo at Aiiima Gallery Hikarie, 15–20 November 2023, artists Zoia Skoropadenko, Clem Chambers and Kina Sato — The pink decree. Paris air-freighted to Hikarie.

Zoia Skoropadenko at Aiiima Gallery with the gallery sign and exhibition space behind her — Zoia at Aiiima. The sign says the city. The grin says the boys are nearby.

Ink drawing of Red Boy in front of Sacré-Cœur, signed Zoia Skoropadenko 23 — Red Boy does Montmartre. Sacré-Cœur tries to keep a straight face.

Ink drawing of Blue Boy in front of Notre-Dame, signed Zoia Skoropadenko — Blue Boy waves at Notre-Dame — a cousin of the oil pastel on the shop page, not the same file.

The Meloy’s Tokyo page

4–9 September 2023 · New York

New York: Upper East Side cartwheels

Miyako Yoshinaga Gallery, 24 East 64th Street — beside Central Park, where serious buildings meet unserious ambassadors. Empire State. Liberty. Bridges. A large Blue Boy on the wall like a welcome banner for people who still know how to laugh in Midtown.

Teal exhibition poster for Blue Boy and Red Boy in New York, 4–9 September 2023, Miyako Yoshinaga Gallery, with Blue Boy and the Empire State Building — Teal poster energy. Blue Boy and the Empire State, officially on speaking terms.

Install view showing a large Blue Boy canvas and smaller framed New York drawings on a white gallery wall — Install view. One big Blue Boy, a bridge, and a scatter of small conspiracies.

Large Blue Boy graphic on a gallery wall seen through a doorway at the New York exhibition — Through the doorway: Blue Boy, wall-sized, refusing to whisper.

New York gallery room with a wooden bench and small framed drawings on white walls — Bench provided. Cartwheels optional. Friendship mandatory.

Drawing of Blue Boy in front of the Statue of Liberty and a New York skyline, signed Zoia Skoropadenko — Liberty meets Blue Boy. She has the torch. He has the stick arms.

Drawing of Red Boy in front of a detailed New York street of tall buildings, signed Zoia Skoropadenko — Red Boy on a Manhattan street. Buildings stacked. Joy unstacked.

The Meloy’s New York page

2023 · and 5 Feb – 5 Apr 2024 · Monaco

Monaco: home rock and the victory lap

The series was conceived here in 2020. In 2023 the boys came home to La Vitrine Contemporaine de Monaco. Then, from 5 February to 5 April 2024, Red and Blue Boys Around the World filled Palais de la Scala, 1 avenue Henri Dunant — Paris, Tokyo, New York and Monaco on one wall of memory. Poster up. Friends in. Joie de vivre on the door.

We looked hard for fresh Monaco install shots that are not already on this site. The Meloy’s Around the World poster already lives on the homepage series section (around1.jpg), so it is not repeated here as a “new” gallery image. If more La Vitrine / Scala room photos surface on Meloy pages, they belong in this chapter.

“I wanted to create something that would speak to people’s inner child. There is a joy and innocence that we often lose as we grow older, and I wanted to capture that feeling with my art.”

Clem Chambers, from The Meloy’s exhibition text

“I hope that our works will bring a smile to people’s faces and remind them of the magic of the world and the joie de vivre of being here.”

Zoia Skoropadenko, same text

The Meloy’s Around the World page · Full tour history

Want one to live with you?

Pick a painting, or send Clem a request at clemcmail@gmail.com. Gallery photos here are from The Meloy / artist pages — scrapbook energy, not the shop product files.