Of Carrot Cake and an exhibition

Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, 7, rue Debelleyme, has a nice exhibition on the top floor called "Infinite Folds," which is based around the simple notion of artists transforming a paper's surface by folding it. Though I am alrady paricularly partial to works on paper, I found this exhibition poetic and thought provoking. It explores some basic ideas of art, namely form and possibilites of a material, and the question of how can the simple act of a fold can create another layer or dimension to a work of art. This gallery is huge and there are two other exhibitions on view, including a few monochrome, shaped, paintings by Jason Dodge in his characteristic, though lovely, large, strokes of paint and a larger show by an Iranian artist named Ali Banisadar.
Following a little art viewing I unconsiously made my way to Coco Cook, a great new take out food shop on rue Charlot, across from the Marche des Enfants Rouge. The carrot cake and iced lemon cakes are to die for, let alone their delicious selection of salads, sandwhiches and plats du jour. It is a needed and wonderful addition to the upper marais.

Seeing is Believing

"Seeing is believing" is the title of a solo show by mounir fatmi opening tonight at Galerie Hussenot, 5 bis, rue Haudriettes, in the 3rd. This eagerly anticipated exhibition is fatmi's first show with the gallery and his first solo show in Paris in nearly 2 years. "Seeing is believing" continues fatmi's exploration of the connectivity between large social structures such as architecture, religion, politics and art history,as well as the minute relationships found in everyday existence. This is perhaps most evident in a series of prints that line the wall with statements that read, "Minimalism is Capitalist," or "Futurism is Facist." They are semi-joeky but at the same time, imply other readings of classic art historical movements. The visual language of Russian constructivism, such as Malevitch's iconic "Black Square" is referenced in works such as the large square set high up on the wall, built from black VHS cassettes and in the video piece showing censored text of FBI files of interviews with the black panther's that has been reduced to the essential forms of black and white.

In a new piece titled "les assassins," about 80 hookhas are placed in the center of the room, their coils for smoking layed out for viewers to take a puff. The title comes from a historical link tracing the etymology of the word assassin-believed by many to come from the word hasish or Haschichiyoun, the name of people who smoked Hasish which was frequently smoked in the hookhas or the french word, nargile. This translation of the name was made popular in the West during the time of Marco Polo, although other readings exist inlcuding a link to the Assassiyoun, or those loyal to Assas, or the foundation of law. Whatever may be the case, the work is both beautiful and haunting and is purposely placed in view of a photograph from fatmi's latest (still in-progress) project, "Sleep," which spins the famous Andy Warhol film of John Giorno sleeping for 6 hours to show the author Salman Rushdie, a Warholian type personality most famous for once having a fatwa against him, in vulnerable repose and in view of "les assassins."

In all of fatmi's artwork and installations we are at first attracted by the graphic, aesthetic quality, but soon we get drawn into a deeper understanding of his intentions and the subversive nature of the work which always presents various layers of interpretation. The exhibition is on view through February 20.

Liz Deschenes-Sutton Lane

On view at Sutton Lane Gallery is an exhibition of work by New York artist Liz Deschenes. The series, titled Right/Left, presents four large photograms, the results of leaving photo sensitive paper outdoors during the night. After the exposure she applies a layer of silver toner to create a slightly reflective surface that resembles an antique mirror or the results of some chemistry experiment, which in a way, these works suggest. At first glance, you have a hard time gathering what it is you are seeing. You almost get an urge to wipe the surface to see if it changes. The usual skepticism with abstraction kicks in and then quickly dissipates when you learn the techniques and practice of the artist.

Set in the tiny, gray and white space of Sutton Lane, the show looks very elegant, timeless in way. It is simple/minimal work, while also engaging. Deschenes has a way of manipulating the photographic process of development, or post-picture taking (here no camera was even used), and pushing the boundaries of what this medium can represent. Man Ray brought the use of the photogram to a sort of acceptable medium/mainstream but Deschenes is taking it to another level. This seems certainly to be a fitting abstract art of the 21st century. On view through November 28.
www.suttonlane.com

Three gallery shows:

Many galleries have rented out their space this week as fashion showrooms, but a few have kept their doors open and merit a visit.

Galerie Xippas: Vera Lutter, This German born, NYC based artist shows eleven large, black + white photographs taken during the last 10 years using a pin hole camera. The works focuses on urban landscapes, industrial sites, and architecture-including old factories and skyscrappers. The images are kind of ethereal and ghostlike despite the subject matter not being super interesting.

Galerie Chantal Crousel: Fabrice Gygi- The Swiss artist presents, as the press release states, "works that can be related to three catagories: jewels, machines and signs." The exhibition consists of several sculptures, a few large, mainly steel or metal works that have a sort of violent,industrial (with slick production value), and fetishistic vibe.

Galerie Almine Rech: Another Swiss artist though now based in NYC, Ugo Rondonine presnts several large scale paintings that resemble the milkyway, dark, starry, luminecent, as well as two large, wood doors which have been covered in black wax or resin and upstairs is a cast wax, large hanging lightbulb. His work is frequently a melange of media and meanings, often referring to fantasy and desire. This show gives a feeling of Grimm fairytales or perhaps German romanticism in the 21st century.

John Giorno:

American poet and artist, John Giorno presents a series of new work, including drawings and paintings and wall installations. It is a fun, bold and brash exhibition from one of the early leaders of the beat generation. On view at Galerie Almine Rech through February 25th.

Exhibitions around town

A few shows worth taking a look at this weekend:
"Le Futurisme a Paris," at the Pompidou Center, closes on the 26th. Timed around the 100th anniversary of the Futurist Manifesto by Italian poet/artist/facist and masochist Filippo Tommaso Marinetti published in Le Figaro (February 20th, 1909), this thorough exhibition brings together the a selection of the "classic works" from the Futurist movement and how it spread into France/London/Russia and of course within Italy. The paintings are amazing windows into history and the passion of the early 20th century. Man and machine, politics, architecture, urban planning...it was macho, pompous, sincere but short-lived due to the advent of WWI. Most of these burly men so in love with machine and war all enlisted only to very soon die or become traumatized and trivialized by the reality of war and death. It is perhaps a small lesson about the need for balance and of course, women--whom most of these men felt were irrelevant and painted either as prostitutes or being engulfed by machines...a subject typically overlooked in the general study of Futurism but clearly worth pointing out...which they do not in the brochure.

A couple of gallery shows of note:
Fiona Rae-a London based, abstract painter, who was linked back in the day with the Young British Artist and was a Turner Prize nominee. At Galerie Nathalie Obadia.
Kay Rosen-an American artist who explores the possibilities of text and language in her paintings and prints and wall installations. very poetic and smart. At Yvon Lambert,

Eileen Quinlan

An exhibition of photographs by New York artist Eileen Quinlan is now on view at Sutton Lane Gallery, 6, rue de Braque. www.suttonlane.com
A small show of nine photographs, all but one of which is from her body of work that is developed out a unique, self-made system that uses mirrors, smoke, fabric and lighting to create an abstract, of the moment image. She doesn't manipulate the photographs post production, but achieves quite interesting and complex imagery that looks very painterly. It is impossible to know what you are looking at without any references to the "real world," which makes you appreciate her creative methods even more.

Indian Focus

On view through September 30 at the Espace Claude Berri, is a small exhibition of five contemporary artists from India. The work comes from Berri's (French film producer/director/art collector), vast private collection. Subodh Gupta and Rina Banjeree are two of the better known artists in the show, both represented by interesting wall sculpture and paintings; but the highlight of the show is Hema Upadhyay, a young artist who lives in Bombay (otherwise known as Mumbai). She has created a vast floor sculpture titled, "Dream a wish, wish a dream," which looks like a replica of the "suburbs" or really, slums that are scattered around many large cities in India and other developing countries. A Brazilian favela could also be referenced. Undulating hills of tiny houses fashioned out of painted corrugated metal are placed one next to the other in a horror vacui of modern day urban decay. But the piece is also beautiful--the colors and details are incredible and it elicits that fascination-shock value that one can perhaps feel upon viewing images of these neighborhoods. It's certainly also a reminder of the failure of urban planning for the poor and the unhealthy conditions where far too many of the world's population are still living. www.espace-claudeberri.com

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.).

Roe Ethridge

On view at Sutton Lane Gallery, www.suttonlane.com, 6, rue de Braque, is an exhibition of photographs by Roe Ethridge. The show presents a selection of mostly c-prints, produced between 2006-2008, about ten images in total. For the last eight-ten years Etheridge, an American artist, has been exhibiting with some frequency and his images always seem to be a pleasure to look at. He has a great eye and captures that perfect, soft, sometimes fleeting moment, as with his landscape images, and in his portraits seems to pull out the best-sometimes weirdest- features of his model. In the Sutton Lane show he includes a 50 x 40” ink-jet print of the Moon. Perhaps a rather romantic if not mundane object for a professional photographer, yet the image is beautiful and attractive. He pulls it off with grace. The best photograph in the show could be “Oysters,” 2008, which is in the office space next door to the gallery. A plate of six oysters, glistening and gleaming in their shells is at once erotic and simply poetic. The exhibition is on view through June 28th.

Guy Limone

An exhibition of new work by French artist, Guy Limone is on view now at Emmanuel Perrotin Gallery at 10, impasse st. claude in the 3rd. www.galerieperrotin.com.

Color is the essential component in Limone's meticulous, visually engaging work. A highlight are the flourescent tubes covered in two-inch high cut out pieces of transparent film that follow a certain color scheme dictated by the artist. For example; "Mexico Green," includes images of the famed green VW bug taxi's along with say, a gas station that has a green facade or a vendor with a basket full of avocados. A red version of this idea took it's centerpiece as the Venice Biennial with fragments not only of the red flags and banners for the show but also the red tile roofs or a woman's red shawl. Each consists of dozens, if not at times hundreds of images Limone has taken of the years. They have a soft glow from afar but like most of Limone's work, are best experienced close up. Other work in the show are the floor-to-ceiling strings of painted plastic figurines which are also studies in color, on top of being beautiful objects, and the spinning wall pieces which involve a large, circular white base, solidly afixed to the wall, onto which small photogrpahs or figurnes have been painstakenly and specifically placed to create a real mise-en-scene impression, but once the work is spun they turn into a dizzying, swirl of color. Limone's work is obsessive in its attention to detail and the delicate construction of objects and the results of incredible efforts he must go through in fabrication (by hand and without much assistance, I believe), are impressive.

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.

Espace Claude Berri

On March 21st a new contemporary art space opened in Paris. The Espace Claude Berri is a newly renovated gallery space dedicated to the collection of the legendary director and producer, Claude Berri. Since the early 1970s Berri has been amassing an enormous and important collection of modern and contemporary art. Artists range from the early 20th century Italian master-painter of still lifes, Giorgio Morandi, minimalist painter of white, Robert Ryman, to artists such as Bruce Nauman, Christian Boltanski, Paul Mcarthy and photographer Yto Barrada. The space doesn't show a collective exhibition but rather has opened with a large installation by the French artist, Gilles Barbier, of what could perhpas be summed up as a sculptural fantasy of the intestinal hommage to the environmental/political/corporate destruction of the world. Espace Claude Berri plans to change exhibitions every few months so take note of a new space to check out on your regulary Marais outings. Espace Claude Berri, 8, rue Rambuteau.

Cheyney Thompson at Sutton Lane Gallery

“New Works,” is an exhibition by Cheyney Thompson at the Sutton Lane Gallery in Paris of just that, new work. It is a small show, with four oil on canvas paintings, but it is a strong show with work that forms part of a larger project, some of which is included in the current Whitney Biennial. The paintings on view demonstrate Thompson’s ongoing investigations of commodity and the marketplace, uses of repetition and media imagery, and the practice of formalist and history painting. This is the artist’s first solo show with the Paris branch of Sutton Lane. The exhibition runs through April 12, 2008.

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.

Mona Hatoum

On view at Galerie Chantal Crousel is an exhibition of work by Mona Hatoum, her first show in Paris in 13 years. The exhibition consists of six sculptural works and several works on paper that surround subjects of domesticity, security, warmth and opposing forces such as war, fighting, harshness, which are themes that typically surround her work. The work is good and not overly dramatic, which is an occasional tendancy in her work (in my opinion). Upon entering the gallery the first piece is a beautifuly display of hand-blown colored glass objects that on closer inspection are seen to be replicas of hand grenades. Another favorite is Misbah, a hanging metal latern typical of Moroccan or Mexican artisans with cutouts, but in lieu of the usual circles and squares, here are silhouettes of soliders holding machine guns. The room is darkend and a light from within the latern casts shadows of these figures around the space. The exhibition is up thru March 1st. Galerie Chantal Crousel,10, rue Charlot. www.crousel.com.

Galleries to visit-3rd arr.

Following up from my earlier post---

Recommended Gallery Visits in the 3rd Arrondisement:

Jon Pylypchuk- Ghislaine Hussenot- www.galeriehussenot.com
Jon Pylypchuk is a Canadian artist and one of the original members of the Royal Art Lodge collective. Quirky, assemblage, creatures made from scraps of carpet, wood and other debris, who assume situations of that are at once, crude, lethargic and yet highly animated. Also on view are several works on paper using the same collage elements of paper, glitter, scraps of wood and cloth onto which he writes brief, poetic phrases that evoke sentiments that range from lonely tristesse to dark morbidity.

Enoc Perez-Galerie Nathalie Obadia-www.galerieobadia.com
An exhibition titled Faraway displays several new paintings and works on paper by the New York City based artist. Beautiful yet distant images suggestive of his native Puerto Rico include modernist hotels by the beach or still life paintings of bottles of rum, lemons and glasses. The artist selects his images through both personal and found postcards and photographs. Through a complex process of drawing and repeated layering of color made through a frottage-like or rubbing method, the paintings take on a faded-nostalgic quality, like traces of a not-to-distant past.

Yto Barrada- Galerie Polaris-www.galeriepolaris.com
A series of photos and a film by this Moroccan born photographer based on a body of work begun in the late 1990s. Images of sites near the cost in Tangiers which are in the midst of construction. These soon to be developed areas look out towards the straits of Gibraltar and their Spanish neighbor. Barrada’s point being that, unless the new generation of citizens takes action, Tangier will soon be the new Costa del Sol- a mass of cheap building development for tourist pleasure and the slow destruction of the soul of Tangier.

Gregor Hildebrandt- Galerie Almine Rech-www.galeriealminerech.com
This was my first encounter with this Berlin based artist’s work and I was really into it. He uses old cassette tapes as his central medium and source of inspiration. It may be more literal as in a wall sculpture of stacked cassettes that reflects a minimalist spirit or the work might be more poetic, using the title of the song as the springboard for large paintings that use the tape in thick, black, vinyl like layers.

From the Audible to the Visible, curated by Peter Coffin-
Galerie Frank Elbaz- www.galeriefrankelbaz.com
A selection of twenty contemporary artists whose selected work for the exhibition uses or makes reference to music in some form or another. Works vary in style and include drawings, photos, sculptures, installation, video and painting.