Category Archives: Paris

INVADER SPACE STATION

February 26, 2024 butterfly

The French artist Invader is taking over an entire building in central Paris and transforming it into a space station: the INVADER SPACE STATION. It’s a strategic location, 11 rue Béranger (75003) in the former offices of the newspaper ‘Libération’. Back in 2011 Invader created a giant mural on its rooftop, visible from satellite.

Curated by Fabrice Bousteau, editorial director of Beaux Arts Magazine, this massive exhibition of 3500 m² spans accross the last four floors of the nine storey building.

Upon entering the INVADER SPACE STATION, we are immersed with a SPACE BATTLE, a large scale installation made of road dividers you might see on construction sites. The artist invites the viewer to look again at our surroundings during our everyday ‘s life. Invader mentions : ‘Somewhere between ready-made, arte povera and installation, I’ve used them here to recreate the army of pixelated aliens as seen on the opening screen of the game Space Invaders’. Full with lighting effects and sound !

INVASION OF PARIS

Since 1998 the artist has been leveraging the city of Paris as his playground. A gigantic map displays all 1500 mosaics installed in the streets of Paris with their exact location, as well as close up pictures of each individual ones in chrononological order, showcasing the artist’s prolific nature across 25 years.

We have the opportunity to view from a telescope the latest mosaic in Paris, named PA1500 which has just been revealed at the Centre Pompidou, Museum of Contemporary Art.

FLASHINVADERS APP

A screen displays a real-time stream of all the successful flashes on the FLASH INVADER app. Long before the app Pokemon Go, INVADER set up the FlashInvaders app in 2014. To participate, players just need to ‘flash’ (photograph) the mosaics in the streets throughout the world. Based on the photo and the player’s position, when the information is validated, the app adds the piece to their collection and the player gains some points and progress through the global ranking of players. Gathering 350,000 players and almost 23 million validated flashes, there is indeniably a strong community.

INVADING THE WORLD

The illegal mosaic invasion has taken on a planetary dimension from the start and INVADER travelled extensively to surprising locations to spread its mosaics around the world. Featured in a chronological order, a selection of pictures offers the viewer a glimpse of the international scope and insane risk taking and energy deployed during 25 years, to place mosaics in various cities internationally as well as reaching deep sea levels and outer space in the ISS station.

VIDEOS AND PROJECTION ROOM

Through his through his various missions, INVADER has also captured hundreds of thousands of photographs, as well as many hours of footage INVADER SPACE STATION shares some gems from the artist’s own archive on video loops as well as a large projection room with different screening programmes through the weeks.

ARTWORKS

In parallel to INVADER’s street illegal practice, the artist has also been producing artworks .

A section is dedicated to a retrospective of all INVADER’s works on paper, from screenprints, etchings to lithographs.

Since 2005, the artists has been incorporating Rubik’s cubes to create figurative sculptures and paintings called ‘Rubikcubism’, transforming a playful object into an artistic medium.

For the first time we discover that INVADER is also a big collector of Kinder Surprise figures, and is looking to use them in his practice as artistic material.

PARTICIPATE

Stickers are a big part of the INVADER community. From automated sticker machines, where visitors can buy and swap their collector items, to a massive participative wall where anyone can stick it. So bring your stickers and be part of the INVADER SPACE STATION !

INVADER SPACE STATION

From 17 February to 5 May 2024

Prebooked tickets can be purchased on invaderspacestation.seetickets.com/timeslot/invader-space-station

Paris, Shows

INVADER SPACE STATION in Paris

January 16, 2024 butterfly

Celebrating his 1500th piece in Paris at the top of Contemporary Art Museum Centre Pompidou, the French artist Invader is taking over an entire building in central Paris and transforming it into a space station: the INVADER SPACE STATION.

Located 11 rue Béranger (75003) in the former offices of the newspaper ‘Libération’ ( which were invaded by the artist back in 2011), the exhibition is curated by Fabrice Bousteau, editorial director of Beaux Arts Magazine.

This massive exhibition of 3500 m² accross nine floors will feature pictures, videos, sculptures and installations. So get ready to be invaded.

INVADER SPACE STATION

From 17 February to 5 May 2024

Prebooked tickets can be purchased on invaderspacestation.seetickets.com/timeslot/invader-space-station

Paris, Shows

Takashi Murakami – Understanding the New Cognitive Domain at Gagosian Le Bourget

December 20, 2023 butterfly

Understanding the New Cognitive Domain, is the first exhibition of work by Japanese artist Takashi Murakami at the Gagosian Gallery in Le Bourget, main private air hub on the outskirts of Paris, France.

Focused on his monumental paintings. The exhibition features five such works plus others in smaller formats and several sculptures.

Murakami wanted to offer the French public a window on Japanese history, the history of Asia, creating bridges between Western culture and Eastern culture, the digital world and the real world, abstract art and figurative art.

Two monumental frescoes welcome the visitors upon entering the gigantic warehouse gallery space. A new 5 x 23-meter painting by Murakami is based on the iwai-maku, or stage curtain, that he produced for the Kabuki-za theater in Ginza, Tokyo.

The frescoe titled ‘The Name Succession of Ichikawa Danjūrō XIII, Hakuen, Kabuki Jūhachiban (2023)’ pays tribute to traditional Japanese Kabuki theater, and specially the stage name Ichikawa Danjūrō XIII, Hakuen by Japanese Kabuki actor and producer Ichikawa Ebizō XI.

Stage names, which specify an actor’s style and lineage, are passed down through generations and the Ichikawa family has a roughly 350-year history. Murakami’s design, which was commissioned by film director Takashi Miike, was unveiled during the first performance of Ichikawa Shinnosuke VIII at the November Kichirei Kaomise Grand Kabuki Theater program earlier in November 2022.

The second monumental painting, Dragon in Clouds – Indigo Blue (2010), is a reference to eccentric Japanese artist Soga Shōhaku’s Dragon and Clouds (1763). Shōhaku’s work is a multi-panel Unryūzu (cloud-and-dragon) painting in which the creature appears as a Buddhist symbol of optimism and good fortune. Murakami’s painting resonates with contemporary Japanese visual culture, particularly the video game Blue Dragon, while its vast scale revives the visceral and psychological impact of Shōhaku’s masterpiece.

In the second space, two frescoes respond to each other, like a distorting mirror: one is the perfect illustration of the Superflat style (a movement halfway between pop art and Japanese kawaii culture invented by Murakami in the 2000s), and the other features sunflowers in a marbled effect.

Between traditional art and contemporary art, Murakami’s heart swings. He recently became interested in cryptoart, and he even launched his own NFT project, Murakami Flowers, last year. “During the pandemic, I really felt that the line between the real and digital world was becoming more and more blurred, and I think NFTs are the artistic expression of this permeability. I create NFTs to insert myself into this metaverse and then make real paintings to explain the world of NFTs to people in the real world . ”

Also on view are several “lucky cat” paintings that reference the artist’s recent NFT projects, and other works featuring Murakami’s iconic smiling flower motif—including a two-meter rainbow neon sign—in which the artist again employs a retro-digital variant on his influential Superflat aesthetic.

Two mirror-plated figures representing futuristic anime-style avatars reinvest the Clone X NFTs (2021) that Murakami developed in collaboration with RTFKT Studios with physical presence, reflecting his fascination with the metaverse and his sensitivity to the hybrid nature of agency in today’s world.

His ever-proliferating cartoonlike blossoms function as immediately recognizable and infinitely flexible icons that may be at once ornamental and symbolic, directing the viewer toward intertwined themes of identity, representation, and technology.

The exhibition shows the full extent of Murakami’s talent and his artistic references, ranging from the masters of the Edo period (1603-1867) to the aesthetics of video games through American abstract artists.

Understanding the New Cognitive Domain is on view through December 22 @ Gagosian Le Bourget

Pictures courtesy the artist and Gagosian

Art Fair, Paris

Highlights from Paris+ par Art Basel 2023

October 23, 2023 butterfly

The second edition of Paris+ par Art Basel continues ascent as a global art market hub, featuring 154 premier galleries including 61 operating spaces in France and leading international participants from Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.

Here are some highlights of this year edition:

Paris + par Art basel offered a vibrant panorama of the thriving art scene with an expanded, freely accessible cultural program unfolding across six storied Parisian locations. For the 2023 edition, works were presented in five locations: in the Jardin des Tuileries – Domaine National du Louvre, on Place Vendôme, in the Chapelle des Petits-Augustins des Beaux-Arts de Paris, in the Palais d’Iéna, and on the parvis de l’Institut de France.

To view all the projects, please visit parisplus.artbasel.com/public-program.

Click on the images for more details. Courtesy Paris+ par Art Basel

This year’s Conversations program, curated by Charles Teyssou and Pierre-Alexandre Matéos, was presented in collaboration with the Centre Pompidou and unfolded at the Musée national Picasso-Paris.

The fair took place at the Grand Palais Éphémère from October 20 to 22, 2023 and attracted an overall attendance of 38’000 throughout its VIP and public days.

Paris

LAYERS – JEWELLERY COLLAB LEK / RENK’ART

October 11, 2023 butterfly

LAYERS is a jewellery capsule collection between legendary French graffiti artist LEK and jewellery brand RENK’ART, designed by Marion Broodthuis Gravier.

Since 2019, RENK’ART, the Berlin-Parisian brand continues to attract more and more Street-Art and Fashion lovers with its jewellery, made from 100% Street materials.

Renk’Art, which translates in French to “a date with art” is the first street art inspired jewellery brand that offers unique ready-to-wear art pieces. Made of ‘Graffiti Fordite’ (accumulation of layers of paint like Ford cars) , every piece tells its own very unique story, combining art, fashion and history.

From Berlin, Paris, Lisbon and Brussels, RENK’ART continues its series of collaborations with renowned graffiti and street artists from all over the world.

For this third series, RENK’ART is returning to its source: PARIS.

LEK needs no introduction: his distinctive style mixes harmoniously the codes of architecture, abstract, futurism with graﬃti.

His artistic journey is impressive: often working as a duo with SOWAT from Mausolee (2012) to Palais de Tokyo, Les Bains Douches (2013), La Tour 13, his artistic residency at Villa Medici (2015), Graff on Tour(s) with le Centre des Monuments Nationaux at La Rochelle (2018), or painting a Castle for the Label Valette Festival (2022) to numerous artistic collaborations with Agnes B to name a few.

The idea of a collaboration came during an encounter at the Label Valette Festival in 2022. Creating the material from layers of mastered and documented paints seemed very interesting to both of them .

For the LAYERS collection, LEK started out with painting multiple layers of his signature graffiti lettering style with vibrant colours, which were then intricately cut out by RENK’ART and melded with sterling silver to create 50 stunning unique one-off pieces.

From cufflinks to earrings and necklaces, the result is a slick and stylish jewellery collection.