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Two good new shows: Liên Hoàng-Xuân - Eleven Planets of UltraBride_OnlineDrift_Core; and Raphaël Barontini - Quelque part dans la nuit, le peuple danse

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Nothing, as far as I know, links these two exhibitions, other than that I liked them both enough to take photos, and make reels of them on Instagram . Liên Hoàng-Xuân is an artist I got to know through Amine Habki, about whom I posted over year ago , before I had the good fortune actually to buy and hang one of his works. They exhibited together at an alternative sort of space, in a disused 70s office block, called the Tour Orion, in Montreuil. Her works blend echoes of traditional Arabic poetry with socio-political themes and aspects of her family and personal life: I believe the figure being serenaded on the balcony in the piece I have at home is her husband, who also features in her videos. Here are a few photos of the current exhibition, at DS Galerie, near République. After the photos, I'll write something about the other show. New exhibitions have opened at the Palais de Tokyo. I can't say I was especially impressed by all of them. Raphaël Barontini's Quelque part dan...
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Iranian 'outsider' art (L'Art Brut d'Iran) at the Halle Saint Pierre

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It's been nearly a year since I posted anything on this blog. After the summer, I might have posted something about Tala Madani 's solo exhibition at EMΣT, the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Athens, part of their ' What if women ruled the world?' show, but my photos weren't good enough. I was also getting into the habit of posting about the October art fairs in Paris, but honestly, this time round, I wasn't excited enough to bother, and since then I've been lazy about gallery shows. But this weekend I went to La Halle Saint-Pierre , at the foot of the Butte Montmartre, to see their marvellous new exhibition of a selection of Iranian 'outsider' artists. I loved it. I've written before, on this blog, about outsider art being shown regularly in Tehran's galleries, in particular in relation to Reza Shafahi and Amir Kamand . Some of the artists in this Paris show were already familiar to me from Tehran, some quite new. I didn't have ...
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Paris tips: visiting

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  Note : this post and the April 28 one, about eating out, were written for American friends visiting Paris, one of them for the first time, who wanted a few tips from a local. They were staying in a hotel just off République... ***** I guess you'll have your own guide book to help you plan your visit. But whichever one (or more) it is, I thought you might find the Michelin Green Guide 's tourist map of Paris (below) helpful, as it makes it easy to locate the main sights. I think you'll find if you click on the map, it will blow up to a more legible size. The inset box at top left explains Michelin's ratings system, similar to its approach to restaurant ratings. With a decent guide book, you won't need much help from me, but I just wanted to add one or two items that visitors might miss, plus an idea for a north-south walk (or south-north, as you wish) that makes a change from the usual main east-west (or west-east!) drag. Also, finally, one neglected but unique mus...
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Paris tips: eating out

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Note : this post and the April 30 one, about things to see, were written for American friends visiting Paris, one of them for the first time, who wanted a few tips from a local. They were staying in a hotel just off République... ***** THREE STRONG RECOMMENDATIONS These are the three places I'd most strongly recommend during your visit, as I think they offer a nice variety of quality Parisian eating experiences. 1. Dinner at Le Train Bleu When the underlying idea was to recommend places off the tourist track, it might seem odd to start with Le Train Bleu, at the Gare de Lyon. But this is surely one of the most extraordinary restaurant spaces in the world. You can only experience it in Paris, of course, and I usually take any first-time visitor there for dinner. It's Lyon-influenced brasserie food at more-than-brasserie prices, but they have simple set-price menus at 55 and 74 euros, and anyway, as usual, the final bill depends above all on what you drink. It's worth it (and...
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