This and that in December 2023: Paris and Toulouse

Posted

 

I don't actually feel like I'm getting much done, but December has got off to a lively start, with quite a few exhibitions (not all mentioned here), as well as a quick trip to Toulouse.

First of all, there was a resident artists' open day at the Fondation Fiminco, a place I've written about before on this blog. Three of the artists there this year caught my eye (in addition to Pooya Abbasian, someone I've known for a while now). Two of them, interestingly, are graduates of fashion, not art, schools, and working in textiles, which seem to be booming in contemporary art these days. Célia Boulesteix' work is greyer and grittier than that of Darius Dolatyari-Dolatdoust, which is more colourful and, in part, performance oriented. As usual, I was drawn to his smaller-scale works inspired, so at least I thought, by Iranian traditions. Unfortunately I didn't have a chance actually to meet Nicolas Faubert, who if I understand correctly comes from a hip-hop background, but his friends talked me through his installation, which included some VR, as well as some fun videos about his travels, even ceramics and 3D-printed pieces based on dance moves.

The Fiminco document behind this link has a full list of all this year's residents.







Every year Montrouge, a suburb to the south of Paris, organises a 'salon' of selected young artists, and I try not to miss it as there are always one or two 'finds', more in a good year. This year (I didn't write it up as I don't have any good photos to hand)  one artist attracted me in particular, Amine Habki, yet again working in textiles and playing with gender stereotypes. I looked him up on Instagram, and saw he'd be one of three artists in a show at Andréhn-Schiptjenko, so along I duly went. Turned out to be a very handsome little group show.





I've already mentioned Rayan Yasmineh in various posts on this blog. This year, Rayan (who seems destined to be a serial award-winner) won the 'Mezzanine Sud 2023' prize from the Abbatoirs contemporary art museum in Toulouse. As he told me to 'Come to the opening,' I did. The exhibition, so he told me, brings to an end his current series of 'verticals' - pictures marked by vertical divisions on, and in the case of diptychs and triptychs, between paintings. One or two of the paintings in Toulouse were new to me. Le songe de Gilgamesh, reproduced in the entrance hall to the Abbatoirs (see the photo below), wasn't in fact there, though the model, Rayan's younger brother, was. It will be very interesting to see where Rayan's work goes next.

I took advantage of the trip (only an overnight stay), to get to know the town a little bit better, and take a closer look at St Sernin and the Jacobins monastery. Oh, and eat a cassoulet.















Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Paris tips: visiting

Posted
Image
  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
Read more

Paris tips: eating out

Posted
Image
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
Read more

Anna Uddenberg: an interesting new development

Posted
Image
Anna Uddenberg is a Swedish artist whose work has, I think, something quite original, distinctive and perceptive to say about the image of women in certain, specific currents of consumer culture that might otherwise be overlooked. I hadn't seen much of her recently, but she now has an exhibition, at her Berlin Gallery, Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler (or K-T Z), of totally new works focusing, this time, not on women but on men. The resulting woodcarvings are an interesting and quite surprising development, and add to what seems to be almost a 'fashion' for reliefs in art at the moment. This is the link to the new exhibition, 'Big Baby' , at K-T Z. This is the link to a video about the new work, on Vimeo , but the video is also on the gallery website. This is the direct link to the page about Anna Uddenberg on the gallery site. The following are some photos of Anna Uddenberg's new and previous work, 'borrowed' from K-T Z.
Read more