Rémi Gaillard & the Beauty of Chaos

Rémi Gaillard is a guy who lost his job as a shoe salesman and then decided to transform the big question mark in his life (as in “What to do next?”) by spreading that question mark all over the world as a culture jammer, (as in people scratching their heads while watching him and asking “What the fuck?)

Think of Rémi like another Banksy but only much more juvenile, a graduate of the Jackass school of agitprop.

Gaillard is a good example of someone taking a scary life event (unemployment) and flipping it into a cue to start doing exactly what he loved most, namely comedy and furries and disturbing the status quo. (Furries? Well, just Google it).

Gaillard’s motto is “C’est en faisant n’importe quoi qu’on devient n’importe qui.”

Translated: “It’s by doing whatever that one becomes whoever.”

I’m needlepointing that into my bedspread right after this post goes live.

As a man interested in comely men, I will vouch, too, for P.E.T.A’s designation of Rémi being one of the sexiest vegetarians on the planet. I’d like to share a tofu burger with him at his earliest convenience.

His natal chart (February 7, 1975 in Montpellier, France — no birth time) shows a not-surprising water trine between Venus and Uranus. Venus (and Mars) in Pisces folks have a strong affinity with animals. Perhaps this is related to the traditional association of the signs Virgo and Pisces (with little and large animals, respectively.) You can think of this signature as someone who loves (Venus) to create chaos (Uranus) by wearing animal (Pisces) costumes. Feel free to add that description to your collection of key phrases for astrological aspects.

Amplifying his comedic nature is Aquarius and Saturn. It might be that Gaillard’s moon resides in Capricorn, too, depending on time of birth, but he’s definitely an Aquarian. And as I remind folks with a strong Saturn or the sign Aquarius exaggerated in their chart: Some of the funniest people in life are Saturnine (dark, sarcastic, often gallows humor-inspired souls) or Aquarian — just loopy peculiar folks, like extraterrestrial walk-ins.

Aquarians personify a corrective function that works to overcome the conventional trappings of life. They remove themselves from the frick and frack, to study how staid life has become so they can then strategize ways to counteract the stasis. This is an ongoing cycle in every Aquarian’s life (going up and then down the mountain) and they must learn to roll with this cycle, otherwise it can drive them (and those closest to them) insane.

This is the Saturnine quality of Aquarius in action: Objectivity and distancing that makes the Aquarian seem impersonal and chilly; a free-thinker (or anarchist) who leaves the confines of his personal think tank at just the right moment to set things right (or upside down). Aquarius, since ancient times, has long been associated with the floods that coincided with the sign’s culmination and seasonal passage. As Deborah Houlding notes: “The ancients saw these passages as periods of refreshment, when the land, newly baptized, was cleansed of sin.”

If you aren’t familiar with Rémi you really need to get with the program. His videos and the kind of topsy-turvy anarchy they inspire — think of them as critter revenge run amok — are a perfect counterpunch to the ongoing fallout from the clash of dimwits and ideologues that occupy the world stage today. From McDonald’s to Monsanto, Gaillard’s a refreshing palate cleanser.