Daniel Buren’s Monumenta(l) success

Posted on May 12, 2012 | Leave a comment

 

At first sight Daniel Buren’s installation for this year’s Monumenta is a little disappointing. A forest of coloured circles create a canopy overhead but leave a lot of unused space. But then, any artist would be hard pushed to fill the 13 500 square metre space with its 45 metre roof (this is where Richard Serra triumphed with his huge vertical installation in 2008). But walking into the space you begin to see the appeal. It is a bit like being underwater and looking up towards the light, or being in a pond under the lily pads. Beyond the curious upward reflection we see the Grand Palais’ steel skeleton in a new light.

In the centre there is a clearing in the canopy to make way for a series of large circular mirrors. Visitors are invited to stand on the mirrors, again adding a new dimension to the well known nineteenth century architecture. The effect is impressive, if a little nausea-inducing. *  Above the mirrors, the central part of the roof has been decorated with turquoise coloured windows and outside Buren’s own circular flag is flying.

Buren is famous for his public piece Les Deux Plateaux in the Palais-Royal (1986), he also represented France at the Venice Biennale in 1986 and won the Golden Lion for best pavilion. His installation for Monumenta follows previous editions by Anselm Kiefer, Richard Serra, Christian Boltanski and Anish Kapoor.

Buren’s work has always emphasized the in situ element – it is designed for and defined by its context. Buren is the first Monumenta artist to take a global view of the space. A different entrance and exit have been created for the show and the cafe and bookshop are integrated into the project rather than added as an afterthought. The specificity of the Grand Palais’ nef (“nave”) makes Monumenta a challenging undertaking. Buren has struck a fine balance between accentuating this specificity and making the space his own.

* don’t wear a short skirt to this show, you may end up showing more thigh than you intended!

Daniel Buren Monumenta 2012 is on at the Grand Palais until 21/06/12

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Portes Ouvertes des Ateliers de Belleville

Posted on May 11, 2012 | Leave a comment

This weekend is the 23rd edition of the Porte ouvertes des ateliers d’artistes de Belleville, the event where artists working around the vibrant area of Belleville open their studios to the general public. Over 200 artists are participating and the programme includes debates, workshops and concerts. More details including a map of exhibitors here.

The doors are open from 11/05/12 (today!) until 14/05/12, 2pm – 9pm

 

 

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Photography Show at Hollande HQ

Posted on April 25, 2012 | Leave a comment

So here we are: Hollande v Sarkozy, the final countdown. And during these all important weeks, François Hollande’s campaign headquarters is opening its doors (evenings and weekend) for a photography exhibition celebrating the joys of la Belle France and her people. Almost 30 photographers are participating with over 100 photos on display. Hollande has said in his campaign that he wants to prioritize art education.

The exhibition is on at 59 rue de Ségur, 75007 until 05/05/12 (Monday – Friday 7.30 – 9.30pm, weekends 2pm – 6pm)

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Robert Doisneau at the Hôtel de Ville

Posted on April 15, 2012 | Leave a comment

Bracha L. Ettinger, Doisneau in his Studio in Montrouge, 1992, wikimedia commons

 

Robert Doisneau, honoured yesterday with his very own Google doodle to celebrate his centenary, is a ubiquitous presence in Paris’ tourist boutiques and postcard stands. His black and white photographs – the most iconic of which is couple kissing in front of the Hôtel de Ville – capture the je ne sais quoi of old Paris and are so often reproduced they verge on nostalgic cliché.

Doisneau, Paris Les Halles, currently on at l’Hôtel de Ville, gives us a glimpse of Les Halles as is was pre-1969, when is was still Paris’ central food market for professionals, restauranteurs and ordinary Parisians. The architecture, the “Pavillons de Baltard” constructed in the 1860s, looks like a cross between the nef (“nave”) of the Grand Palais and some of Paris’ surviving covered markets, but the ambiance captured by Doisneau seems far from anything in Paris today: expansive walls of hanging poultry, deer and other game piled high, cheery merchants brandishing offal, selling flowers or pulling delivery carts. When the market was moved to Rungis in 1969, Doisneau said “Paris perd son ventre et un peu de son esprit” (“Paris has lost its belly and a bit of its soul”). While one’s sentimental side may agree, a more practical, public-sanitation aware side of us breathes a sigh of relief.

The old site of the market is of course going through another renaissance as the 1970s Forum des Halles is torn down to make way for a new model.

Doisneau, Les Halles is on at the Hôtel de Ville until 28/04/12, free entry.

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The Bigger (and Better?) Palais de Tokyo

Posted on April 13, 2012 | Leave a comment

The Great Exposition hasn’t always wholeheartedly supported the Palais de Tokyo’s endeavours (we were disappointed here and here) but we are still sad to have missed the grand opening of the newly restored Palais, with its added 14 000 square metres of exhibition space.

Artnet has a sneak preview of the space here.

The (Entre)Ouverture, with installations, performance, concerts and projections is open until midnight tonight. The Palais de Tokyo is open (proper) from 20/04/12 with La Trienniale – Intense Proximité.

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Helmut Newton at the Grand Palais’ Newly Restored Southeast Gallery

Posted on April 12, 2012 | Leave a comment

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Helmut Newton, Paris, 1977

“I’m attracted to bad taste,” says Newton, quoted on the wall of his Grand Palais retrospective, “It’s much more exciting than the clichés parading as good taste.”

There is a fine line between good and bad taste in Newton’s photographs: Bulgari jewels dripping from the wrist of a model while she breaks the leg off a greasy roast chicken, an immaculately made up Jerry Hall holding a raw steak against one eye, a model on a bed saddled up like a horse and a variety of masochistic-looking props (one series from 1977 has models posing in a (sexy?) back brace or with crutches or a bionic hand).

Newton has been accused of misogyny in the past. While it could be argued that the women in his photographs are objectified, they are treated like magnificent objects, and along with everything else in his compositions are carefully staged and dramatically lit. They are an impressive presence in a thoroughly recherché setting.  In the “Big Nudes” series, inspired by German terrorist identity shots, his models dominate the space, they are strong and monumental, like modern day Venuses.

In the documentary Helmut by June (also on show, although hard to get in as the auditorium is a little poky) made by June Newton, Helmut’s wife of 56 years and co-curator of the show, Newton gives his verdict on what he calls “shrinking violet women”, “they give me the creeps” he says. The film, which follows Newton at work in LA, Miami and Monte Carlo, sheds some light on his working practice and Newton, the man. He is not a sleaze bag (or a “monster” as June has heard him called) but comes across as professional, rigorous (even strict with his models) and not without humour. He uses the models as a sculptor uses his raw materials or directs them as a film director would an actor. The results are sexy and risqué (he was dubbed “King of Kink” by Time magazine) but the process is professional and his women appear liberated rather than exploited.

Helmut Newton is on at the Grand Palais, Southeast Gallery until 17/06/12


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Leonardo da Vinci’s Saint Anne restored

Posted on March 28, 2012 | Leave a comment

Leonardo da Vinci, The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist, c. 1500

The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne returns to the Louvre, restored to its full glory. Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece will be on display in a special exhibition uniting preparatory studies, documents and the treasured “Burlington House Cartoon” (The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist) from the National Gallery in London. This is the first time the two compositions have been seen together.

Saint Anne, Leonardo’s ultimate masterpiece is on at the Louvre from 29/03/12 until 25/06/12


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Gohar Dashti and Shilpa Gupta at White Project

Posted on March 26, 2012 | Leave a comment

Gohar Dashti, Slow Decay series, 2010

New Gallery on the block, White Project, is currently showing a small but pithy exhibition of Shilpa Gupta and Gohar Dashti curated by photography curator Yasmina Reggad.

The title of the exhibition is a quote from Jean-Luc Godard. “Ce n’est pas du Sang, c’est du rouge!” (“It’s not blood it’s red!). This is classic Godard, whose films tend to accentuate the artifice of filmic techniques. In the same vein (excuse the pun) Dashti and Gupta have very deliberate ways of staging blood in their projects, the artifice is laid bare and while the works on show are not explicitly violent, the blood remains a vivid signifier.

Gohar Dashti’s photographs from the series Slow Decay depict everyday scenes made alarming by the – often unexplained – presence of blood. Despite the violence implied by the blood the people in the photographs appear calm, if distracted, lost in their own thoughts.

Shilpa Gupta’s installation, Blame, was created as a reaction to the 2002 troubles in Gujarat, Northern India. This interactive piece is made up of tiny bottles of “blood”, each labelled “Blaming you makes me feel so good, so I blame you for what I cannot control”. The blood spilled as a result of intolerance and confrontation is metaphorically asepticised, packaged and distributed as a miracle cure to the problem. While the installation at White Project has something of the Damien Hirst Pharmacy about it, it is part of a larger interactive project in which the artist sold bottles to the general public on trains and in Mumbai station (similarly an interactive sculpture made of bars of soap was central to Gupta’s first solo show in Paris at Yvon Lambert in 2009) .

Shipa Gupta, Blame, 2002 – 2004

Shipa Gupta, Blame, 2002 – 2004

Shilpa Gupta, Gohar Dashi, Ce n’est pas du sang, c’est du rouge is on at White Project until 19/04/12

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Michel Blazy at Art: concept

Posted on March 19, 2012 | Leave a comment

For his new solo show at Art:concept, French artist Michel Blazy continues his exploration of ephemeral media. In place of more tradition materials Blazy uses comestibles and other volatile substances; previous installations have included vegetable matter (Palais de Tokyo, 2007) and shaving foam (Le Plateau, Frac Ile-de-France, 2007). For Débordement domestique, Blazy fills the gallery space with swirls of tin foil and a slightly tomato-y scent. On the floor is a giant slab of lasagne and on the wall a tableau of pizza. In using these unusual materials, Blazy renounces full control of his installations, leaving them to morph and develop in an organic and unpredictable way.

Michel Blazy, Débordement domestique is on at Art:concept until 05/05/12


 

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Group show at Emmanuel Perrotin

Posted on March 14, 2012 | Leave a comment

Spring is in the air at Emmanuel Perrotin, where 18 of the gallery’s artists are showing new work. This group show has no particular theme but is nonetheless an entertaining jumble of concept (Claude Rutault), colour (Takeshi Murakami), humour (Kolkoz)  narrative (Sophie Calle) and the absurd (Daniel Firman’s upside-down elephant supported only by the tip of its trunk).

Out back at the Impasse Saint Claude site is a show by wacky Austrian collective Gelitin.

Daniel Firman, Nasuntamanus, 2012

Elmgreen & Dragset, Unfinished Symphony, 2012 / Claude Rutault, Définition/méthode 295. L’épreuve de la peinture, 1973 – 2012

Guy Limone, 160 out of every 1000 Americans own a passport, 2007

Gelitin, from The voulez vous chaud

Group show and Gelitin, the voulez vous chaud, are on at Galerie Perrotin until 05/05/12 and 21/04/12 respectively.

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