Category Archives: Paris

Art Fair, Paris

Paris: FIAC Highlights 2018

Two weeks after FRIEZE in London, Paris attracts the center of the art world for a week with FIAC (Foire Internationale d’Art Contemporain).

Located in the spectacular venue of the Grand Palais, the 45th edition of FIAC featured 195 galleries from 27 countries. The five-day fair, held in the majestic setting of the Grand Palais, combines contemporary and modern art under one soaring steel-and-glass roof, and attracts about 75,000 visitors, according to the organizers. The Frieze and Frieze Masters fairs, which separate contemporary and modern, each attract 60,000.

Here are some highlights from this year’s edition

Yael Bartana

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

FIAC – 18-21 October 2018
Grand Palais
Paris

Art Fair, Paris

Paris: District 13 – International Art Fair

The first District 13 – International Art Fair will be held from 26 – 30 September in Paris at Drouot, an iconic institution of art history. Located in the heart of the capital, District 13 offers the public a curated selection of international galleries and international renowned street artists.

District 13 finds its inspiration in the city’s 13th district, with a long history of supporting street art with Street Art 13, an open air museum led by Galerie Itinerrance and the Mayor of the 13th District, as well as the more recent project Tour 13 (covered here).

Opened in 1852 in Paris, Hotel Drouot is the world’s largest auction house. Over the years, this institution has forged a place as a focal point for contemporary art. Works from the greatest names throughout the history of art, including Picasso, Matisse, Braque and Dalí, have been sold under the hammer of Drouot’s auctioneers.

For the first time ever, Drouot will be hosting a fair dedicated to Urban Art – a movement that is undergoing a complete transformation and lies at the heart of the debate and future of contemporary art.

District 13 will host a series of events.

Participating exhibitors include a carefully selected range of galleries and international street artists (from Paris, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, etc): Garey The Third (OTI),Galerie Itinerrance, Subliminal Projects, Galerie LJ, Corey Helford Gallery, Dorothy Circus Gallery, 39.63 Project, Hellion Gallery, HEY! Modern Art & Pop Culture, Galería Lira, Pure Evil Gallery, Art & Craft Galerie, Avenue des Arts, Orlinda Lavergne Gallery, Yosr Ben Ammar Gallery , GCA Gallery, France Albin Michel Editions Beaux Livres, Galerie At Down, France Backside Gallery,France Swinton Galler, Graffik Gallery, What’s Art Gallery, Lavo//Matik.

The programme also features conferences, meeting with artists, guided tours, and an auction for the final day of the fair.

District 13 International Art Fair
26- 30 September 2018
Drouot
9, rue Drouot
75009 Paris, France

Paris, streets

Paris: Banksy Festive Rats

To conclude Banksy  invasion of Paris, the elusive artist celebrated also the festive spirit of the French capital with a series of stencilled rats.

Popping champagne bottles while happy rats are flying high on top of cork bottles.

Location as always: Montmartre first, and then in the Marais district with a Bar called ‘Chez Marianne’, of course.

To complicate things further, Banksy returned several times on the same locations, updating the stencils in colours and shape as you can see on the little animations, giving them a lively feel, as they were getting stolen, repainted or covered under plexi .

In the overcrowded area of the contemporary art centre ‘Centre Pompidou’, the elusive artist returned to paint a bigger mischief rat holding a cutter.

Lastly the  City of Love is celebrated with a little rat couple dressed in 19th century outfits, lovingly gazing at the Eiffel Tower in the background from under a bridge.

Such a romantic! Happy Summer !

 

 

Paris

Paris: ‘Illustres- C215 autour du Pantheon’

Illustres! C215 autour du Pantheon

Portraits of illustrious men and women painted by the French street artist Christian Guémy, better known as C215, adorn the French National Monument Pantheon and surrounding streets in the fifth arrondissement of Paris until 10 October.

This year, the Centre des Monuments Nationaux is presenting “Sur les murs, histoires (s) de graffiti” on nine monuments of its network (see our previous coverage here). On this occasion, the artist C215 was invited to make portraits of men and women honored at the Pantheon, and thematic visits are also set up in the monument, to discover the many historical graffiti present in the heights of the monument, spaces usually inaccessible to the public.

Christian Guémy pays tribute to the figures of the resistance, like Brecht, Zola or de Gaulle, whose names are associated with streets, squares and institutions. In all, 28 portraits of historical personalities, some of which are buried inside the Pantheon, are painted on the walls of the 5th district.

Illustres! C215 autour du PantheonIllustres! C215 autour du Pantheon
Illustres! C215 autour du PantheonIllustres! C215 autour du Pantheon

The tour titled “Illustres! C215 autour du Pantheon ” begins in the crypt of the monument, which hosts an exhibition of the artistic approach and the techniques used by the artist to create these colourful portraits: stencils, blades. A series of photographies illustrate the artist’s creative process, while a movie presents an interview of the artist.

Illustres! C215 autour du PantheonIllustres! C215 autour du Pantheon
Illustres! C215 autour du Pantheon

Within display cabinets, C215 is creating a dialogue between the illustrious portraits and symbolic objects. Thus, literary works, handwritten letters, and professional objects of Marie Curie, Germaine Tillion, Andre Malraux, Victor Hugo or Antoine de Saint-Exupery are exhibited and highlight the area for which these illustrious people are honoured.

Illustres! C215 autour du PantheonIllustres! C215 autour du Pantheon
Illustres! C215 autour du PantheonIllustres! C215 autour du Pantheon
Illustres! C215 autour du PantheonIllustres! C215 autour du Pantheon

Punctual visits to the upper parts of the Pantheon allow the public to discover some of the historical graffiti.

Illustres! C215 autour du PantheonIllustres! C215 autour du PantheonIllustres! C215 autour du PantheonIllustres! C215 autour du PantheonIllustres! C215 autour du PantheonIllustres! C215 autour du Pantheon
Illustres! C215 autour du PantheonIllustres! C215 autour du PantheonIllustres! C215 autour du PantheonIllustres! C215 autour du Pantheon

At the same time, C215 painted 28 portraits in the streets of the 5th arrondissement surrounding the Pantheon and invite the viewer to discover the lives of these extraordinary personalities.
For example a huge portrait of Marie Curie adorn the walls of the Institut Marie Carie.

Illustres! C215 autour du PantheonIllustres! C215 autour du PantheonIllustres! C215 autour du Pantheon
Illustres! C215 autour du PantheonIllustres! C215 autour du PantheonIllustres! C215 autour du PantheonIllustres! C215 autour du Pantheon

A full map of the C215 Illustres tour is available here

Illustres ! C215 Autour du Pantheon
Until 10 October
Place du Panthéon
75005 Paris

CMN ‘Sur les Murs, Histoire(s) de Graffiti’

https://graffiti.monuments-nationaux.fr/

 

Paris, Street, streets

Paris: Banksy Bataclan Tribute

2 Comments

Continuing his Paris invasion, Banksy chose a poignant subject and spot on location.
A new stencil appeared on the exit door of the Bataclan theatre in the 11th district of Paris.

Extremely strong symbolic as it is this exact exit door where victims of terrorist attacks tried to escaped during mass shooting on 13 November 2015, leaving 89 dead and over 300 injured.

Painted on the black background of the exit door, a white stencil features a woman with a lace veil, which gives a mystical and protective aura like a Madonna.

Her face is inspired by a marble sculpture by Italian artist Giovanni Battista Lombardi from 1869.
She is dressed in a uniform , reminiscent of the rescuers that did everything to save the victims that night.

©Francois Lafite

The mourning woman is holding some files in one hand, maybe the victims reports and a delicate lace handkerchief on the other.

Using just a monochrome stencil, Banksy creates a strong moving memorial to the victims of terrorism in Paris, as well as a big up to the rescuer teams.

For further updates on Banksy in Paris check here