Hello & Goodbye

I am declaring the countdown to spring officially on. Some of you in Paris today might think I am a bit premature, but you have to admit that in between the coolish gusts of winds, the sun feels warm and the days are noticeably longer. Walking home today I noticed little signs: the pods hanging off trees and small bursts of yellow and lavender flowers in the parks. Maybe I am feeling inspired from the Jan Dibbets exhibition I just saw at the Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (this place needs an acronym). I have been a fan of Dibbets, a Dutch artist born in 1941, for awhile. I love his use of simple landscapes of the ocean and green reedy grass which are turned into geometric constructions suggestive of Frank Stella or Ellsworth Kelly. This exhibition compares his early 1970s work to work made in the late 2000s, using the same techniques and landscapes. It's earth art or land art à la Smithson, with less machismo and more poetic. Maybe I am partial to landscape painting in general, and Dibbets in many ways seems like the proper extension out of 17th century Dutch landscape painting--but of course photography and conceptual. It is a small exhibition and worth a quick visit.

Galerie d'objets sensibles

Clémentine Dupré is a young, talented ceramicist with an atelier in the 20th arrondisement. Through the 23rd December she has opened her atelier to the public and has invited three other artists/friends to show their work to create an intimate and interesting salon where you can do some last minute gift shopping. What better then a handmade, limited edition object to give as a present? Clémentine Dupré's light as air ceramic bowls, vases, sake cups are both functional and beautiful. Working mostly (or what was on view now), in white porcelain, with finishes that seem transparent, matte, natural in colors ranging simply between white, black and navy blue. To compare to another ceramic aesthetic I would say Japanese, in its restrained elegance, and not surprisingly, she told me that she exhibits and sells quite well in Japan. In one series, which really grabbed me, she applies a trail of tiny, ceramic beads to the surface, creating a bulbous shape that might sit a the rim of a large bowl or grace the surface of a vase.


Of the oher work in the galerie, were a series of more industrial type plates with images printed on the surface, metal wire mobiles, hand sewn bags with vintage type textiles, and some cool notebooks, pins and magnets. Through December 23. Atelier Clémentine Dupré, 20, rue Etienne Dolet, 75020.

OFR

Librarie OFR is one of my favorite bookshops in Paris. Every time I walk by I am drawn in and spend a minimum of 15 minutes (usually way longer even if I am late somewhere) browsing their selection of books and magazines covering all ranges of design-graphic, textile, furniture, object, fashion, as well as art books and monographs. They also have artists books, including "Paris" by Ami Sioux in which the artist asked friends to draw a map of their favorite place in Paris and then she used the map and went and photographed the site. Maps range from minimal sketches to elaborately drawn treasure-like maps with personal instructions and added splashes. It's a clever and creative idea and has become a regular gift item to friends. In the back of the shop is a big space dedicated to art installations as well as fashion designers for a salon or fair. OFR, 20 rue depetit thouars, 3rd arr.

Denise Colomb

Part of the Hotel de Sully, a beautiful hotel particulier in the 4th, just off of rue St. Antoine, is an off-site for the Jeu de Paume. Tucked off to the side from the beautiful garden is a two-level space devoted to modern/contemporary exhibitions. It was my first visit actually, when I went to check out the photography exhibition of vintage photographs by Denise Colomb taken in the West Indies between the late 1940s-1960s. Colomb, a French photographer(1902-2004) was invited by poet and politician, Aime Cesaire to come to the West Indies for an "ethnographic mission" organized for the centenary of the abolition of slavery. The works are all in black and white except for a slide show at end of the show that shows some work transfered into color in the early 1960s. Colomb does not exoticize nor pity her subjects, but presents a fairly straight forward portrait of life for the citizens of Martinique and Guadeloupe, and the dispartity between the vestiges of colonialism and reality of living on a remote island. It was interesting to see the difference between an image in black and white and then in color. One of her later images captures a woman nude, sitting in the ocean. In b+w, the image is powerful for the isolation, the simplicity of her form and a sense of innocence in nature. In color, you see the skin tones of the bather set in the crystal clear blue waters and you cannot help but think of all the tourist posters splashed around town for cheap flights to the island. She is not a sexy, posing model at all, but she has been replaced by one in today's advertising world. This exhibition coincidentally falls almost a year after the strikes and violence that shook these very islands for a few months, which makes one wonder how developments have been made between the countries in the post-colonial world. www.jeudepaume.org

Great Ideas

Great website for things design, but really liked this project from a San Francisco based artist:
http://observatory.designobserver.com/entry.html?entry=11257

Love Tree

We received this "Love Tree," as a wedding gift from family friends, and I am loving it. It was made by Craig Kane, the son of my parents friends. He is an artist based in New York and his work is all miniature and beautifully crafted. This tree with the floating felt "LOVE" catches shadows at various times of the day. We went for a vertical hanging for a better shadow. This was a morning love.

Pauline Bordeaux

I first encountered Pauline Bordeaux about a year or so ago at the flea markets in Vanves. She was tucked in between two larger vendors and I heard her telling off another vendor about something or another. I have no idea what she was saying but I was struck by this tiny, maybe 4'7", 70 (at least) year old woman in her soon to be familiar fur hat, holding her own against the younger, arrogant men. I went in for a closer inspection and saw that she was selling her own paintings. She turned on the charm as I walked up, becoming experienced saleswomen she clearly was. Using small 4 x 6" pieces of cardboard, she paints small landscapes of countryside scenes, perhaps with a disproportionately sized cow or horse floating in the background, or scenes of children playing on a beach (but wearing the sailor type uniforms and bow ties reminiscent of the early 20th century), or sometimes just close-ups of animals or flowers. The colors are usually muted due to the cardboard support which sucks all the shine, but they are sweet and folky and I was smitten. For 10 Euros I took home the first of my now four Pauline Bordeaux paintings, for after that, any brocante or antiques fair, whether it was 5 degrees or 20 degrees (Celsius), there she was, working away, on her feet for probably 6-9 hours. I couldn't help but build up fantasitc ideas about her: maybe she lived in some grand hotel particulieur in the 8th, maybe she had numerous lovers including de Gaulle, but in reality I imagine she lives a pretty hard life as an artist, considering her dedication to her craft. Recently I worked up the courage to talk with her and at the last brocante around the Parc de Batignolles I had M take some great photos. So keep an eye out for her on your next flea market or antiques fair and spend that extra 10 euros--you never know she could be the next great thing.

If you are in Berlin...

If you are in Berlin this holiday season, go see the exhibition by Sarah Crowner and Paulina Oloskowa titled "Ceramics and Other Things," at the DAAD Galerie. This collaborative project is an investigation into the medium of ceramics. Each artist explores their own approach to the idea of ceramics, both working predominately with one of its basic forms, the tile. (press release). Much of this work on view is informed by a residency the pair did together in Greece this fall. The two artists work well together and share an artistic sensiblity, but they both also convey an individual artistic practice each has developed over the last several years.

Salon Light #5

Beginning yesterday through tomorrow is a great little book fair featuring artists editions and small press publications...mainly art related. The salon is located at the Point Ephemere, in the 10th and includes about thirty indie publishers of books, magazines, CDs, DVDs, journals and editions. We went last year and really enjoyed it. Because it is such an intimate space and setting, you get a chance to talk to people and learn about the various projects involved. The salon is sponsored by CNEAI, an arts space located just outside Paris that is dedicated to artists' editions. Check it out: http://salonlight.wordpress.com/

Collaborative Efforts

I am stealing this blog idea from a favorite blog, fibercopia. I was really impressed by this project, which looks like some wild folk art piece, but is actually the results of a unique and successful collaboration. Jennifer Marsh, an artist based in NY, started the International Fiber Collaborative and invited people to submit panels of fabrics, as she stated on the website, "stitch, crochet, knit, patch a 3-foot square panel, and help point out the extreme dependency of our country on oil for energy. Simply by designing and creating these panels and participating in the project they are showing their concern [for this issue]." She received hundreds of crazy, beautiful, multi-colored panels, which she then used to cover the whole of an abandoned gas station in central New York State. The website documents everything, including all the artists and community groups involved.
www.internationalfibercollaborative.com

Le Laboratoire

About a year ago I visited Le Laboratoire, a new art space which opened in October 2007. The space was still undergoing construction but the concept of Le Labo was immediately intriging--as a place where science art would converge in installations and multi-media projects. I finally got back there last week. The space is beautifully finished, staff welcoming and helpful with information (and free coffee). The current exhibition is between Japanese electronic composer and visual artist Ryoji Ikeda, and Benedict Gross, professor of Mathematics at Harvard University. As in this case, the founder of Le Labo, American novelist and scientist, David Edwards, brings artist and scientist together to develop an idea, which is then featured in the museum.

The exhibition is visually minimal. In the first room, the space is darkened and two long, rectangular photographs are suspended about a foot above the ground. At first glance it appears to be just black and white tiny checkerboard print but when looked at with magnifying glass or really close up, you see that in fact it is a long series of random numbers. The other photograph consists of prime numbers. Mathematical minimalism. In the next room, also dark, is a very brightly florescent lit chamber of sorts that has a humming vibration. It felt like a UV sun bed and on the foggy day helped brigten my mood, though not sure if that is the point. Ikeda states that he has here conceived a work where the definition of the sublime blends with the immateriality of infinity.

When you leave the exhibition rooms, you are invited to browse the media center filled with books and a couple of videos related to the installation. Coffee is offered and it is a really nice, comfortable space to take few extra minutes to learn about the show and Le Labo's mission. Definitely worth keeping on the radar.
www.lelaboratoire.org. 4, rue Bouloi, 75001. Open Friday-Monday 12-19h.

The Berliner

Just back from four days in the hipster haven of Berlin. For some time now I have been curious and intrigued to visit this city so frequently praised and cited in terms of art/fashion/cutting edge bars and so on. With all the hype I was bound to be somewhat disappointed by the real thing, but I wasn't. I was surprised by how large of a city it was and realized 4 days is too short-though I did get a flavor for it. W

We arrived late afternoon on Tuesday and M went off to finish his installation at Art Forum Berlin- so I was left to wander for a few hours by myself. I was psyched to hit the Berlin pavement, but it was already pitch black at 5:30, so I kept my stroll to a small circumference around our groovy pension, the Weltempfaenger. (Carry the card with you should you need a taxi to take you back as there is no way of trying to pronounce this if not German). This small pension is located a little up from the Mitte. Rooms are sparse and concierge type service basically nil, but the bar/resto is a great hangout with good food. I was immediately enamored with the Mitte--i felt like I kept hitting cool, little galleries followed by young designer shops-often with workshops onsite. It was exactly what I imagined. Some cool highlights from this were Fiona Bennett-www.fionabennett.com, a fabulous hat shop; JA Designkonzepte-www.j-a-designkonzepte.de, whose konzepte is vintage and new fabrics transformed into beautiful scarves/eye shades/pillows/decorative items, etc.; Wolfen- www.wolfengermany.com, a lovely boutique, simple clothing, but simple in the sense of elegant designs done just right. kind of like APC does it; and Swert, www.s-wert-design.de, another fabric based concept store tho this time with an architectural//kind of retro look to the designed fabrics used as curtains, pillows, and also on clothing.

We ate (too) well in Berlin. I love the German or Dutch style cafe with the big bar, soft lighting and great coffee served with cookies. In the cold/wet weather we had for a couple of days this is essential to keep up tourist stamina. One night we had Russian food at Gorki Park and another night ate at an old-school restaurant called Einstein’s that had big, high ceilings and kind of a German-1920s vibe to it. We also had the requisite hotdogs or currywurst-(hotdog with curry spices) which left me semi-nauseous but satisfied. The weirdest thing about Berlin is how fast it can change to become a wasteland of strange (bad) architecture and void of sentiment. At the same time this also reminds one of the newness of this city and the scars that are still apparent.

Art highlights were seeing the Neue Nationalgalerie (a Mies van der Rohe building)at night; KW Institute of Contemporary Art; the Casper David Friedrich paintings on the top floor of the Alte Pinacotheque, the new Capitain Petzel Galerie located on Karl-Marx Allee-which was the long route to Moscow out of East Berlin, once upon a time, and of course, M's installation at Artforum Berlin.

Here are some pics. M took better one's so I have to wait until gets around to downloading....

Arroyo Seco Ceramics

While staying with friends in Arroyo Seco, a tiny town just outside of Taos, New Mexico, I had the pleasure of walking into John Bradford Pottery..well actually he is a close friend of my friends who have their 2nd home there--and as it is a one-road kind of town, everyone knows everyone..it's great.

John Bradford has had his shop in Arroyo for about four years. When you step into the space and see the quantity of work, and then look in the back at his studio and the amount of pieces that didn't work for him, you can sense that he is serious and dedicated to his craft. He works more in series then in doing an edition of one style. In a series, pieces can work together but also stand as individual objects. He does work occasionally on commission. Check him out at www.bradfordpottery.com. Here are a few images to get you tempted.

Galerie Impaire

Galerie Impaire opened its doors last night for their inaugural exhibition. This
gallery was the idea of Creative Growth,
www.creativegrowth.squarespace.com, the center in Oakland, California
that provides a space and assistance to mentally handicapped people, to
make art. That is their main mission and it has proven to be aphenomenally successful experience both for the artists, many of whom have arrived and just flourished through art, and the center, which has gained a world-wide reputation.
This concept of art, was championed by many, but one of the first was French artist Jean Dubuffet, who coined the term Art Brut and encouraged this type of intuitive, raw, pure form of art.

Galerie Impaire will feature artists who work at the center, such as Judith Scott, Dan
Miller and Aurie Ramirez, but they will also do exhibitions of
international artists from Japan, Russia, the Czech Republic. There is
a side space in the gallery which may bring in contemporary artists to
work in dialogue with the Art Brut artists. It may not be for everyone,
but I think it is an exciting addition to Paris. The opening was well
attended, a good start and hopefully sign of their long-term presence.
47, rue Lancry, 10th
arr. (Image is of a work by Judith Scott, a personal favorite. Her work
is an obsessive weaving and twisting of yarn among such items as a
chair, skateboard, twigs, stones, etc. Beautiful.).

Librairie 7L

In a city filled with innumerable bookstores, French and English, Librairie 7L still manages to add something special. The creation of the oh, so something Karl Lagerfeld, the store is filled with mostly coffee table type tomes with glossy, beautiful photographs, in the fields of art, architecture and design-but in the widest sense, including landscape design, fashion, textiles, art deco furniture makers and all ranges of photography. Being the concept of Lagerfeld the photography and fashion sections are particularly dense and varied. The store appears well curated and well attended to-each section having a range of material and subject matter that is not found just anywhere-with smaller publications in the mix as well as larger productions such as Rizzoli and Actes Sud. Hours are to be had browsing-perhaps a good idea for this weekend if the threat of rain turns real. Librairie 7L, 7, rue de Lille. No website.

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.

Discovered:Tanya Aguiniga

Thanks to www.designspongeonline.com, the detailed mecca of design information, I just discovered the website of Tanya Aguiniga, www.aguinigadesign.com, a furniture and textile designer based in Los Angeles. The work is amazing and I needed to share the information. Tanya was born and raised in Tijuana, Mexico and her work is very much influenced by the culture, border issues and community activism that surround Mexico and the US. As her website states, she is influenced by the interconnectedness of societies, the beauty in struggle and the celebration of culture. Her work encourages people to reconsider the objects they use in their daily lives. Some of my personal favorites are the objects that incorporate an element of the natural world, whether in the series of pieces using birchwood or the chairs covered in felt or the chairs built up from layers of threads which come to resemble a type of loom. The work is really different. It considers new possibilities for pillows, tables and seating. In addition she makes beautiful textile objects that are hand woven.

French Ceramicist Gregoire Scalabre

French ceramicist, Gregoire Scalabre, has a fantastic new exhibition at the Galerie NeC at 117, rue Vieille du Temple. Gregoire, one of the leading ceramicists in France I am told by his associates, transforms clay, here mainly lush white porcelain, into
contemporary, sculptural work that is at times rather akin to surrealist organic forms.

The smallish, circular-like objects, titled "Temps Moderne," are a recurring form. They often have small holes pierced onto the sides or are open at the base. They suggest something between a children's rattle, an industrial plumbing device and chemistry models for molecules. He places them onto their sides or against one another, sometimes on a layer of small, pentagon shaped tiles and other times a
flat rectangular base. It's a seductive, if not unusual work that can
function alone on a pedestal, as a sculptural, stand-alone object, but
would also be lovely as an object that tied in with other household
pieces like a desk or low table, perching it just so to give it its
space, yet engage with other pieces around it.

In "Fleurs de Grand Feu," tube like shapes about 8-10inches high, sprout up from a flat, rectangular base. With a metallic like patina the piece could almost suggest a late 60s-early 1970s ceramic work. Scalabre also riffs on traditional ceramic vessels in his large cylindrical vessels with handles, or the Tony Cragg like installation of dozens of miniature, white vase-like vessels with cut out centers which are placed on a high pedestal.

Also on view are ink on paper drawings and sketches made both as studies and
preludes to the sculptural work. They are interesting studies of form
and space.

It's is clear that Gregoire is talented, very experienced and
extremely skilled with the possibilities of ceramic as a medium and its
potential to be transformed into contemporary sculpture.
I may be biased because Gregoire was my teacher during my three-month 'stage' at the Atelier de Ceramique,
where I struggled interminably on my quest for zen and just one
centered pot (not). From time to time we had the pleasure of watching
M.Scalabre while he spun his miniature vessels, one after the other from a large dome of porcelain. You can visit his website for more information, www.gregoire-scalabre.com

abcd

abcd la galerie is a hidden pleasure. Tucked away in Montreuil, abcd galerie is devoted to Art Brut and it boasts one of the best collections in the world, including works by artists Henry Darger, Adolf Wolfli, Aurie Ramirez, Dan Miller, Jakic Vojislav, and Jaime Fernandes. www.abcd-artbrut.org The 20+ minute metro ride to the galerie is fully worth it. It's a beautiful, welcoming space, and the owner is usually onsite and very helpful with any questions. There is also a small screening room to show some of the films on artists they have produced.

Art Brut, or Outsider Art in English, was a term coined by French artist Jean Dubuffet to refer to art made outside the boundaries of "normal" society. Essentially this refers to artists with mental handicaps, as well as to artists working in prison, who are illiterate, or who are totally uneducated. Typically these people are making art out of a purely intuitive and almost obsessive need. Speaking recently to Tom di Maria, the director of Creative Growth Center in Oakland, California, www.creativegrowth.org a center which supports over 150 mentally disabled people to make art at their center, (and who are also opening a gallery in the 10th arrondisement in late Spring!), he discussed how some of these artists who cannot even make a sandwich for themselves are creating incredibly layered, rich and important works of art. It's an unexplainable situation really, the why do they do it factor, but it is truly an engaging field in the art world, which is only growing stronger thanks to such institutions like Creative Growth, and fantastic collectors like abcd galerie.

Rosa B.

Rosa B. is a new online French/English magazine produced by the CAPC Museum of Contemporary Art Bordeaux and the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Bordeaux. www.rosab.net. Named after the painter, Rosa Bonheur, who lived and worked in Bordeaux and who was known for her beautifully painted scenes of animals, landscapes and market life. Rosa Bonheur was an independent and rebellious artist who fought societal conventions
put on women to become a working painter and run her own art establishment. She
dressed up like a man to visit the livestock markets and she travelled to the American West, exploring new territories and becoming friends with wild characters.

The magazine, which channels this free spirited mind, seeks to explore issues of art, theory, culture, methodologies of knowledge, writing, philosophy
and the like. Each issue of the magazine will focus on a specific theme, subject matter or question that is a common concern for each institution, the choice of which will be made by the editorial board.

Each issue will have a new editor, who will select and organize the materials, text and audio-visual, that will be included. In the first issue, writer and curator Thomas Boutoux serves as the editor and he has included a video interview about Stuart Bailey, the writer/editor/and founder of Dexter Sinister, a small press in NYC; a
short film about Roma Publications in Amsterdam which includes the artists Mark Manders and Roger Williams; an extract from a book called Grammaphne, Film, Typewriter by German Philosopher Friedrich Kittler, (1986), with an introduction by Patricia Falguieres; and an illuminating interview between Boutoux and the writer Matthew Stadler. Rosa B. is an interesting and insightful new addition to the world of online sites devoted to art/culture.