“Metro”, “Subway”, “ Underground” …

 

 

As usual, sorry darling Followers, I cannot refrain from building my very own Art Paris Art Fair, just as I did for the FIAC or for Paris Photo. When you do not have the possibility of having your own gallery, you play Gagosian by making up a virtual one !

So, please, come in, walk on that red carpet spread just for you !

 

In French we say “ Les Coups de Coeur de la Rédaction” : a snobbish way of saying : “ Hey, you, brats, you don’t know about nothin, I’ll tell you all . anyway, you won’t understand a thin, but who cares ? “

 

So, very pretentiously … May I introduce you to a  few “ Coups de Coeur” from the most talented of blogs on this surface of the worldwide globe – come on Hon, you know what I mean , that round ball of earth we all live on, don’t know how they managed to make it THAT round, but Boy, the manager was good at it !” .

 

- ETHAN LEVITAS , who, obviously, must LIVE all day long in a subway, wherever it is and whatever the name. But …. at  Paris Art FAIR, he ventured into Geisha land, with success. That’s why you’ll see that angel face in the middle of unromantic metrocars.

 

There we are : 

 

 

 

 

“ This is just to say “ by Ethan  Levitas

 

 

 

 

 

 

The bloke was born in 1971 : a baby !!!!

I’m far too old to be able to cope with his too young biography, so I prefer you to go all alone in that too young land !!!

http://www.elprojects.com/

 

 

- And from Subway to Building, what better way to walk on in the city ?

This time with Michael WOLF and his transparent buildings..

 

 

 

And still more for chic city-rats : us ??????

 

 

Marina City in Chicago

 

 

- And from buildings we go to concrete; no windows, no doors with Patrick CORNILLET, another youngster, born in 1968 !

 

A master in strenght and poetry.

 

 

This one did the show at Art Paris Art Fair.

 

 

 

Ossature – 120 X 160. Oil on wood.

 

 

 

Bassin 4 – 115 X 190 – Oil on wood

 

 

- Let’s escape to land with Georg KUTTINGER and his horizontal horizons

 

Landscapes : remixed.

 

 

You can tell Blondy One that this Georgy has  studied architecture,right ? But what makes it so spacy, is that  Georg Küttinger makes use of his ability to create visionary new spaces by  photographing individual sections of a real landscape at different times and from different viewpoints and brings them together in a new context. Then, that’s when you’re lost !

Into that dreamland of nowhere.

"NEON, WHO'S AFRAID OF RED, YELLOW AND BLUE ?" AT LA MAISON ROUGE

70 years of neon  lights in Contemporary Art.



Neon lights came to light in 1912 in France but the United States were already under its brightness. Artist Dan Flavin used neon lights as soon as the Sixtie's in her work.

Neon rays are not meant only as lighting but as a way to express oneself in a different and colourful way.

Take your kids with you.

"NEON, WHO'S AFRAID OF RED, YELLOW AND BLUE ?"
LA MAISON ROUGE
10 Boulevard de la Bastille - 75012 - Paris
till May 20th, 2012.

http://www.lamaisonrouge.org/

RUN TO THE TUILERIES FOR A GO AT EXTRAORDINARY FLOWERS !

 

 

 

Till March 1st, 2012, your eye will catch straight away the most strange flowers in the JARDIN DES TUILERIES ! Nothing like pansies, irises, daffodils or camelias, but the weirdest of flowers , huge ones, between the merry go round and the central alley.

They’re all signed by 82 year old Yayoi KUSAMA who exposed at the CENTRE POMPIDOU ( check my previous issues on Centre Pompidou)recently.

Instead of peonies, these flowers are called “ Flowers That Bloom at Midnight” : a perfect picture of her dear themes all part of her infancy bathed in hallucinations, from her colored dots, to fright and anxiety.

“AI WEIWEI” AT THE JEU DE PAUME

 

Although you will be seeing below all sorts of Ai WEIWEI’s kind of art works, the JEU DE PAUME focuses on his photographic work.

But so that you have an idea of the artist’s complete imagination !

 

 

 

In the early 1980s, Ai Weiwei (Beijing, 1957) chose New York as field of expression,   photographing on a daily basis the world around him. He continued this practice in Beijing, where he returned in 1993, showing the multiple aspects of the urban and social reality of China.

His photographs bear witness of lawless capitalism developing in his country and contradictions of modernity.

Both architect, sculptor, photographer, blogger and new media, Ai Weiwei, who quickly became one of the major artists of the independent art scene in China, produces a prolific, iconoclastic and provocative work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ai WEIWEI : “ Entrelacs” at the JEU DE PAUME

from February 21st till April 29, 2012.

DAMIEN’S DOTS : A LARRY THING .

 

Damien HIRST’s famous dots all over the world, in each and every of GAGOSIAN’s 11 galleries till February 18th, 2012 :  Damien Hirst: The Complete Spot Paintings 1986–2011. If you have a private A380 which can take you to all of GAGOSIAN’s galleries, you’ll be offered a poster of Damien’s coloured dots. I’m joking, it’s a little more than a poster !!!

Who would be crazy enough to cover the world for painted dots ? But knowing the price of a single dot from the Brit artist, who wouldn’t ?!!!

 

ARTY NEWS/DANCING IN SPIDERWEBS

 

CHIHARU SHIOTA :

Chiharu SHIOTA was born in Osaka, Japan in 1972 and belongs to a generation of young
artists who have gained international attention in recent years for body-related art.

“State of Being”

A piano and chairs, defined by a network made of black wool threads. the object, the piano
as once defined loses its meaning in order to represent something that cannot really be
represented: the memory of the sound in a silent room.

 

The artist weaves vast structures in black wool thread that imprison various evocative objects, such as musical instruments, dolls’ dresses, shoes and beds.

These objects are floating and liberated from their primary purpose, conjuring up poetic and moving images for the viewer. They call forth memories and emphasise absences.

“I feel there is something common between the silence of the burnt piano and the silence on my way home, and that this is deeply hidden in my heart,”

Chiharu Shiota

With Spider webs that have spread unchecked, the artist has carefully crossed and knotted her threads from floor
to ceiling and wall to wall by untiring manual labor. since then, the idea of the web of strands
is often present in her installations. the unusual feature here is that SHIOTA uses her own umbilical
cord to connect it by yarn to an installation of knots.

Didn’t know what to do with that whole truck load of frames ? Don’t even imagine stacking your lovely picture inthem : start acting lie a real artist for God’s sakes !

All kinds of frames will do and sorry Honey, a trip to IKEA won’t save you; too easy Buddy !

You know what ? those are no frames but 600 wooden chairs

 

“I make art because it gives me the feeling of being 100% at peace with myself."

"I dont know exactly where Im going but its probably anywhere where I have the feeling that it isnt here."

"When I dream that Im in Japan, then I have the feeling it is Japan. The dream is like reality, not like the man who turned into a butterfly in his dream, I feel the dream as reality. I cant distinguish between dream and reality. When I wake up, I have the feeling I'm still dreaming."

"But the silence remains.

The more I think about it,

the stronger it is.

The piano loses its sound;

the painter no longer paints;

the musician ceases to make music.

They lose their function,

but not their beauty--they become even more beautiful."

 

DANIEL TEMPLON

till February 18th, 2012

30, rue Beaubourg
75003 Paris

T. 01 42 72 14 10 — F. 01 42 77 45 36

www.danieltemplon.com

EVENT !… EVENT !… EVENT !

 

 

2012 will see the biggest ever exhibit of an alive artist !!!!!! Ta Dah !!!!!!

WHO IS THE CHOSEN ONE ?

 

Here is a clue :

 

Next and last clue :

This artist sold “ For the Love of God” , a skull paved with 8 601 diamonds foe a shitty smallish 100 million $, yes, one hundred milllion dollars.You heard me .

 

Brit Damien HIRST , YES, that is WHO will expose in all the GAGOSIAN of this earth : 11 galleries : NY, Paris, LA, HK,Athens,Rome, London and Geneva.

15 OOOm2 of exhibit space : will it be enough for that “brand” ?

 

Will go into details as 2012 goes on .

The MUSEE D'ART MODERNE TURNS WILD WITH "ANY EVER"

Ryan TRECARTIN sounds like this :



Trecartin has invented a new cinematic language that corresponds to the way people experience the Internet. His work has inspired a younger generation of filmmakers, as well as other artists.






and Lizzie FITCH looks like that :




 Papier mache, insulation foam, fabric and just stuff creates an ebullient anti-aesthetic art that makes Niki St. Phalle’s wildest work look demure !





I've tried to make that photo "extra-large" for you to really appreciate . And I, always promoting Fitness, see where I end up !

I let you judge .

At the MUSEE D'ART MODERNE
till January 8th, 2012.

MY VERY OWN PARIS-PHOTO

 

Hard to decide who to flashlight ; like when you’re in a shoe store, which pair to choose ; ghastly choice, let’s face it. Vital existential dilemna.

Plunge Girl, well, me, in this particular case.

 

So there you go with my very own PARIS-PHOTO :

 

Giorgio and I, ( Armani, of course , I only pick handsome fellows in case you didn’t know, no time for creeky ugly stuffed buddies ) have the same tastes : he picked for his Acqua Foundation the same photographer I chose ( or is it the other way around ?) :

- Hiroshi SUGIMOTO

Hiroshi SUGIMOTO – Caribbean Sea Jamaica

Water and air. So very commonplace are these substances, they hardly attract
attention―and yet they vouchsafe our very existence.

“Mystery of mysteries, water and air are right there before us in the sea. Every time I view
the sea, I feel a calming sense of security, as if visiting my ancestral home; I embark on a
voyage of seeing.”

Hiroshi SUGIMOTO

 

 

 

Lightning Fields, 2009

Whether making ultralong exposures of movie screens or photographing museum dioramas to look like real scenes, Hiroshi Sugimoto has always used his camera to explore unseen phenomena — artifacts of time, light, the elements, and human perception. But for his latest project, called Lightning Fields, the award-winning photographer traded optics for electricity.

 

- Sebastiao SALGADO :

Sebastiao SALGADO

 

Southern right Whale, Patagonia –2004 – Sebastiao SALGADO

 

Brazilean photographer Sebastião Salgado has never been the kind of artist who shrinks from big issues.

During his 35-year career, he has specialized in long-term, self-assigned projects during which he spends years traveling thousands of miles to document a single theme.

Workers, a seven-year project completed in 1992, focused on laborers in 26 countries.

 

 

Workers

Workers

 

 Migrations, which he started in 1993 and finished in 1999, examined the vulnerability of refugees, economic migrants, and other displaced people in some 40 nations. The critical and popular success of these collections has made Salgado something of a photojournalist rock star.

 

  Migrations

  

His meticulously composed black-and-white photographs – often with the subject backlit, so as to sharpen shapes and heighten emotion – carry an almost unbelievable drama. Many of his images have become icons.

 

Now, Salgado is turning his camera to the subject of the natural world – or what’s left of it. His latest project, called Genesis, is an effort to document the pristine vestiges of the planet. He started on Genesis in 2004 and expects to have it finished by 2012. When completed, the project will tell the stories of 20 unique places that have somehow avoided the mark of human development.

 

 

-  Yang YONGLIANG :

 

the sunk ship (detail)
ink-jet print on fine art paper
50cm x 304.6cm
2008

 

“In the first creation of Phantom Landscape I used ‘Mountain Water’ a symbolic element of China. This title includes two things literally: one is the City I live in, the other Mountain Water (meaning Landscape in Chinese). City is the place I inhabit, a place growing with me and which contains my memories. A mirage or Phantom (City) is a desired state or environment which I’ve only imagined. Mountain Water (Landscape), the imitation of the traditional art from my childhood as well as the art form that is disappearing with the city and I growing. The birth of Phantom Landscape doesn’t come up by accident.

http://www.yangyongliang.com/

Du ZHENJUN

 

- Olaf OTTO  BECKER :

 

 

Iceland and Greenland through the freezing eyes of German photographer Olaf Otto BECKER. “Above Zero” : a serie on the ice world.

 

 

 

 

  - Fouad ELKHOURY :

Fouad ELKHOURY – Corniche – Beirut Sombres

 

 

- In SOOK KIM :

 

 

Saturday Night - In Sook KIM

In her series Saturday Night, In Sook Kim realizes the fantasy of every voyeur: on a Saturday night, the 66 rooms of a hotel shamelessly unveil their large bay window, exposing the intimacy of their occupants: in every room, a scene is meticulously reconstituted and the residents are going about their business however not always in the most innocent matter: sex, drugs and rock n` roll…every human vice is exposed.

In Sook Kim defends her position as an observer by explaining that she doesn’t interpret nor does she criticizes, she watches. Her photographs with evocative titles offer a sarcastic description of the human condition.

The final image is a true piece of art, a technical masterpiece with rare complexity which required more than four years of work.  

 

Saturday night – In Sook KIM

 

 

 

http://www.kiminsook.com/

 

- Henri FOUCAULT :

 

Like Vera LUTTER, Henri FOUCAULT prefers life in white on black, in perfect magical shadows.

 

 

- Vera LUTTER :

 

 

 

- Irene KUNG :

 

Chiaroscuro at its best

Duomo - Irene KUNG

 

http://www.irenekung.com/

 

- Massimo VITALI :

 

Iceberg

“So there I was, with my large camera, a large tripod and an even larger curiosity as to why hoards of people had voted for Berlusconi. The most sensible move seemed to be to place myself right up front of these people, to stare at them in the face, in their most vulnerable, defenceless state. The beach is a common place where the best and worst, the banal and mundane merges. On the beach Italians paradoxically represent innocent bareness, a reconciliation with nature, along with pathetic hedonism.

My photography comes from absolute matter-of-fact situations but also from a deep curiosity that I possess for people, for what they do and how they think.”

Massimo VITALI

 

 

In the spirit of a Andrea GURSKY