Dynasty, the first exhibition uniting the Palais de Tokyo and the Musée d’art moderne, brings us the best of the young French contemporary art scene. With 40 artists presenting one work in each wing, there is a lot to see.
The show begins with typically Palais de Tokyo-esque monumental installations. After Robin Meier and Ali Momeni’s [...]
Will Cotton, Consuming Folly, 2009/2010
François Boucher, Diane sortant du Bain, 1742, Louvre
Galerie Daniel Templon is currently showing new work by Will Cotton, candy landscape painter extraordinaire. The scantily clad women in his ice cream and candy floss landscapes bear a striking resemblance to 18th century frivolities, such as Boucher. But there is something a bit [...]
Prisonniers du soleil (“Prisoners of the Sun”) is the second part of the Erudition Concrète programme at Le Plateau, and is a adventure through time, space and innovative curating.
In two parts, the exhibition leads us from quirky 19th century bourgeoise interior, through what looks like a door from Bilbo Baggins’ Shire, into the dark mystery [...]
Spring is finally upon us (well Paris saw at least two sunny days last week)! And a visit to Bernard Tschumi’s Parc de la Villette offers, not only a deconstructivist landscaping masterpiece, but also another chance to see Duane Hanson’s sculptures. Hanson’s hyperrealist figures are disconcertingly life like, inspired by middle class American types.
Duane Hanson, [...]
Cy Twombly’s ceiling, Louvre
The Louvre yesterday unveiled the newest contribution to its collections: a ceiling painting by contemporary artist, Cy Twombly. The painting is in the Salles des Bronzes, housing classical bronzes. Predominantly blue, it is reminiscent of Renaissance and Baroque ceilings depicting the heavenly skies, albeit in a more paired down aesthetic.
Twombly, American-born but residing [...]
Crime et Châtiment (Crime and Punishment), opened last week at the Musée d’Orsay. The idea for the exhibition came from Robert Badinter, politician and criminal lawyer famous for his campaign for the abolition of the death penalty in France in the 1970s. The show boasts a variety of striking art, grisly documents [...]
The Fondation Cartier is exhibiting Beat Takeshi Kitano’s work in an exclusive exhibition Gosse de Peintre (“Painter’s kid”). Kitano – best known for his arthouse films or cult TV show Takeshi’s castle – is a filmmaker, actor, comedian, presenter, and now artist. This is his first solo show in a gallery [...]
Lucian Freud, Two Plants, 1977 – 1980
Lucian Freud: l’atelier is the first major exhibition of the artist’s work in France since 1987. The four sections of the exhibition are centred around the theme of the studio and include his large interiors, self-portraits, copies of old masters, etchings, drawings and his signature large-scale fleshy nudes.
Although dominated [...]
The new shows of two artists at Galerie Yvon Lambert’s challenge the way we see, and engage with, modern life.
Micheal Brown’s first solo show in Europe consists of an installation of cheap-looking broken lawn chairs, highly polished cans, broke mirrors and pornographic imagery. Combining readymade elements and deceptively manipulated materials, Brown comments on the easy [...]
Van Gogh, Self-portrait as an artist, January 1888
The real Van Gogh is hard to pin down, so many and various are the accounts and interpretations of the artist’s life. Famous for cutting off his own ear and dying penniless only to achieve inordinate posthumous fame and recognition, Van Gogh is the ideal incarnation of “the [...]