Notes from Paris
Part One
Sascha Behrendt
Detail, Elene Chantladze, Untitled, 2004, mixed media on paper, 8 1/4 x 5 38 inches. Image courtesy of the artist and LC Queisser
In part one of her Notes from Paris, contributing editor Sascha Behrendt shares highlights from the 2023 editions of Paris + par Art Basel and Paris Internationale.
PARIS + PAR ART BASEL
October 18—22, 2023
No longer a shopping destination just for luxury fashion, Paris is now the one for art. As the global behemoths of fashion and art brands converge, the city is the ideal one-stop shop. Mega galleries cluster around Avenue Montaigne, home to Chanel, Celine, and Dior, the jewels of French fashion. With additional gorgeous hotels and cuisine, what more can those on a cultural purchasing spree desire?
Paris + par Art Basel art fair is a logical next step in the commodification of Paris as an art center and brand. Set within the Grand Palais Éphémère and focused on modern and contemporary art, the fair buzzed, despite being cramped, with the sleekly dressed circulating booths, stopping for champagne pit stops and chat.
Marieta Chirulescu, Untitled (E.Vuillard, M. Proust), 2023, UV print, pigment, rabbit, glue on canvas, 16 x 25 1/2 inches. Image courtesy of the artist and Plan B Cluj
Ed Ruscha, Pico, Hoover, Alvarado, 1999, acrylic on paper; Robert Frank, Wyoming (Woman on Horseback, Casper),1955, gelatin silver print, 13 x 8 1/2 inches. Image courtesy of the author and Galerie Thomas Zander
Booths that stood out were Berlin gallery Plan B Cluj, showing refined minimalist paintings by Romanian artist Marieta Chirulescu, and strict black and white presentations by Galerie Thomas Zander (Paris, Cologne) giving calm relief from the hubbub, with an Ed Ruscha, Pico, Hoover, Alvarado (1999) juxtaposed alongside a stark Robert Frank photograph of a rider, Wyoming (1955).
Franz Erhard Walther, SIEBZEHN RÖHREN / ARM HAND FINGER, NR 1, 2022, cotton cloth, 51 x 118 x 3 inches. Image courtesy of the artist and Galerie Jocelyn Wolff
French gallery Jocelyn Wolff showed a beautiful Franz Erhard Walther, SIEBZEHN RÖHREN/ARM HAND FINGER NR1 (2022), a wall piece of soft folds of cotton lined up as if hanging harmonic notes in color.
Paul Pagk, Hermit, 2019, oil on linen, 76 x 74 inches. Image courtesy of the artist and Miguel Abreu Gallery
Miguel Abreu Gallery from New York displayed large abstract paintings by Paul Pagk, the artist’s resonant colors informed by his preference for luminous, hard-to-get pigments, alongside a geometric love of mathematics.
Elene Chantladze, Self Portrait, 2010, mixed media on paper, 6 3/4 x 4 3/4 inches. Image courtesy of the artist and LC Queisser
Elene Chantladze, Untitled, 2004, mixed media on paper, 8 1/4 x 5 38 inches. Image courtesy of the artist and LC Queisser
In the Galeries Émergentes section were heartfelt, quirky gouaches of fable-like scenes painted by Elene Chantladze at the Tbilisi, Georgia-based gallery LQ Queisser.
Jadé Fadojutimi, The unitch PT1, 2023, acrylic, oil, oil pastel, and oil bar on canvas, 98 7/16 x 72 13/16 inches, © Jadé Fadojutimi. Photo: Mark Blower. Image courtesy of the artist and Gagosian
Carol Bove, Groove Flume, 2023, stainless steel and urethane paint, 31 1/8 x 14 x 9 1/2 inches. © Carol Bove. Photo: Maris Hutchinson. Image courtesy of the artist and Gagosian
Gagosian had a noticeably superior interior-designed booth that started with a painting in a riot of violet hues by English hot star Jadé Fadojutimi, which then segued onto Carol Bove’s softly crumpled steel sculptures, using neutral wall paint colors and curved walls in between. Showing us all how tastefully this could be done.
PARIS INTERNATIONALE
October 18—22, 2023
This not-for-profit independent art fair, held within the historic Centrale téléphonique Le Cour built in 1911, was spread over four floors with raw walls and expansive views.
Em Rooney, Christine and Megan at Carey’s Cabin, 2023, silver gelatin print in aluminum frame, 12 x 14.75 x 1.5 inches. Image courtesy of the artist and Derosia
Ulrike Müller, Hinges, 2023, vitreous enamel on steel, 15 1/2 x 12 inches. Image courtesy of the artist and Bridget Donahue
Two galleries quietly and confidently stood out, both from New York. Derosia, with compelling ‘off’ moment photos by Em Rooney, within hand-built metal frames, and Bridget Donahue, showed works by Ulrike Müller, an Austrian, NY-based artist. Donahue displayed paintings of enamel on steel in subtle color juxtapositions defined by sensuous graphics, as well as two woven rugs. Müller has work in the current show Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction at the Los Angeles County Museum (LACMA) through Jan 21, 2024.
Installation view, Hu Yinping, Xiao Fang, 2023. Image courtesy of the artist and Magician Space
Image courtesy of the author
Hilarious and refreshing was a presentation of Chinese artist Hu Yinping by Magician Space, Beijing. A comment on labor, leisure, and dreams, her hanging vacuum-packed crochet bikinis by rural Chinese ladies knitting groups as per her instructions by a fake French company were conceptual gifts to these women—who had never seen the seaside.
From Georgia's LC Queisser to China’s Magician Space, it was a pleasure to see galleries such as these. The more that diverse businesses and nations are encouraged and supported within art fair contexts, the more relevant those art fairs will be to the next generation of young, diverse, global collectors. The world is changing fast. Let’s see that represented, too.
Paris + par Art Basel
October 18—22, 2023
Grand Palais
Paris
Paris Internationale
October 18—22, 2023
Central téléphonique Le Cœur
Paris
Editor Sascha Behrendt is a writer with an in-depth knowledge of arts and culture in the US and UK. Interviews and profiles include artists Stan Douglas, Arthur Jafa, Sakiko Nomura, Walter Van Beirendonck, Francesca Woodman and Wolfgang Tillmans. She has been part of the editorial content team at Avant Arte, a pioneering platform for emerging and blue-chip artists, and writes for the Sasson Soffer Foundation in New York.