Notes from Paris
Part Three
Sascha Behrendt
Henry Taylor, Forest fever ain’t nothing like, “Jungle Fever” (detail), 2021, acrylic on canvas. © Henry Taylor, courtesy of the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Nicholas Brasseur
In Notes from Paris part three, contributing editor Sascha Behrendt shares her thoughts on recent exhibitions by Sophie Calle and Henry Taylor.
SOPHIE CALLE À TOI DE FAIRE, MA MIGNONNE
Musée National Picasso
Paris
October 3, 2023 — January 7, 2024
Exhibition views: Sophie Calle, À Toi De Faire, Ma Mignonne, Musée National Picasso, Paris, October 3, 2023 — January 7, 2024. Photos: Vinciane Lebrun
In her indomitable, mischievous way, Sophie Calle pulls off a heist of both the legend Pablo Picasso and the revered national museum after an invitation to celebrate the 50 years since his death. Calle’s first room exhibition title, ‘Picalso,’ is a subversive re-jig of the name and brand. As one enters, there is an immediate sense that one is firmly in the hands of Calle, with no reverence present. Famous paintings are shrouded with curtains of gauze, overlaid with texts of thoughts by museum workers, or sculptures are wrapped completely, as with the She Goat (1950) disrupting the aura of works by Picasso.
Sophie Calle, Pablo Picasso, La Chevre, 1950, 2023, bronze, paper tyvek. Photo: Vinciane Lebrun
Sophie Calle, Pablo Picasso, Portrait de Marie-Therese, 6 janvier1937, huile sur toile, 2022, tirage numerique. Collection de l’artiste
Unlike Hannah Gadsby’s takedown of Picasso at the Brooklyn Museum earlier in 2023, Calle simply ignores the artist and gets on with her fascinating obsessions around mortality, legacy, and, let’s face it — herself. In many ways, it requires an ego like hers to take on Picasso. Unlike Gadsby, whose wall texts accompanying Picasso’s art displayed surprisingly childish, petulant attacks on his character, sexuality, and work, Calle utilizes the important forgotten tool of today — the power of attention and, in her case, the withdrawal of it. For these reasons, the show is witty, subversive, and educative.
Sophie Calle, Detail de la serie Voir la mer, 2011. Courtesy of the artist and Perrotin
Serena Carone, Le Cenotaphe de Sophie, 2017. © Serena Carone/ ADAGP, Paris 2023 Photographie ©Béatrice Hatala/ ADAGP, Paris 2023 Collection Sophie Calle et Serena Carone
From a feminist point of view, unlike the labored attempts by Gadsby, Calle, when given four floors at the hallowed museum, demonstrates through her interventions and the unblinking dominance of her oeuvre how to get over the machismo and questionable adoration of past art ‘gods.’
Photo of Sophie Calle, Musee Picasso Paris. © Yves Géant
HENRY TAYLOR. FROM SUGAR TO SHIT
Hauser & Wirth Paris
October 14, 2023—January 7, 2024
Hauser & Wirth Paris, ‘Henry Taylor. FROM SUGAR TO SHIT’, 14 October 2023–7 January 2024. © Henry Taylor Courtesy the artist and Hauser &Wirth. Photo: Nicolas Brasseur
Taylor disrupts any niceties with the title of his show, which includes sculptural afro trees, bottle tops, and toilet rolls as well as wryly titled portraits, Does yo dog bite Mickelene (Thomas) (2022) or of Josephine Baker kneeling naked in front of museums, historical symbols of colonialism, the British Museum, and the Louvre.
Henry Taylor, Another country, Ben Vereen, 2023, acrylic on canvas. Photo: Jeff McLane
Henry Taylor, no atou, 2023, acrylic on canvas. Photo: Nicolas Brasseur
Henry Taylor, got, get, gone, but don't you think you should give it back?, 2023, acrylic on canvas. Photo: Nicolas Brasseur
Exhibition view: Henry Taylor, From Sugar to Shit, Hauser & Wirth, Paris (14 October 2023–7 January 2024). © Henry Taylor. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Nicolas Brasseur
Deceptively slapdash, the paintings are for Taylor and his world, not the white European canon. Strong color contrasts and rough brush marks are his language. There is a sweet subversive relish to his work being seen in the most chi-chi streets not far from the Champs Elysees.
Henry Taylor, 2022. © Henry Taylor. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Emma Jenkinson
Sophie Calle
À Toi de Faire, Ma Mignonne
Musée National Picasso
October 3, 2023—January 7, 2024
Henry Taylor
From Sugar to Shit
Hauser & Wirth Paris
October 14, 2023—January 7, 2024
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.