Galerie Pixi

During mom’s visit there is of course more then just culinary feasting…there is shopping. Shopping proves to be one of the better ways to work off the pannacotta dessert the night before and build an appetite for the approaching meal. Her hotel is tucked along one of the many small streets that create the vast network of St. Germain des Pres, so there have been a few tours of this posh neighborhood where we leisurely take in all of the fabulous designer creations perched in their windows like little leather, cashmere or jeweled candies. You can’t help but want them all, but with the dollar-euro crisis it’s time to keep strict on a monetary diet.

This is not an area where I spend much time actually and so it was a pure pleasure to fall upon Galerie Pixi, 95, rue de Seine, a real bijoux of a space. Run by the granddaughter of the late Russian avant-garde painter, Serge Poliakoff, La Galerie Pixi, which has a temporary (I believe) title of “Le Boudoir de Marie Victoire Poliakoff,” is full of interesting art, couture and other handmade objects. As my mom went into an upscale children’s boutique next door (do we really need another?), I was lured into Galerie Pixi by the black and white, boudoir-esque awning and lacquered black door. You buzz to get in, always rather intimidating, but upon entering I felt immediately at ease and even more, I felt like I had just discovered something truly original. I was visually stimulated in a way that I hadn’t been in awhile. I was not familiar with the artists on view and had the impression that the work was far from the Marais/Louise Weiss aesthetic and more the results of a personal passion and cultivated eye. Marie Victoire, the lovely and friendly owner, curates one-two month rotating exhibitions of artists, mostly American or European, but there is often a twist, for example last month the exhibition was of Parisian fashion designer Adeline André, which featured a rack of beautiful, flowing, primary colored dresses. The space was not just dedicated to André. There were shelves and cabinets filled with little treasures including a wonderful oil on paper work by French artist Charles Henri Monvert, abstract collaged/paintings by Laurent Baude and some wonderful, intricate works of threads and feathers that hang on the wall and small white, wood sculptures of geometric forms who’s poetic simplicity calls to mind American artist Richard Tuttle. I would love to be an artist-in-residence at the galerie and live in the little back room. The creativity of the artists but also the owner is evident throughout. La Boudoir de Marie Victoire Poliakoff is very low-key. There is no website and many of the artists listed don’t have much information to be found on the web. This both frustrates me and makes me more enamored and impatient to return. The next opening is May 7 and will feature New York artist Gibb Slife.