The sparse streets of the capital mark the arrival of summer, and yet the city’s largest museums seem more crowded than ever. What about leaving the tourist hotspots behind to explore Eastern Paris’ artsy neighborhoods, from Bastille to La Villette after a stroll around République?
Photography, illustrations, street art: their galleries have a lot to offer in July 2019!
Jim Avignon – “Business As Unusual”
Until August 24th
The Arts Factory gallery is presenting a solo exhibition of multisciplinary artist Jim Avignon, a celebrated figure of Berlin’s street art scene. This summer, all four floors of the venue will be featuring the acid artworks of the prolific artist, who has been active for more than 30 years.
Favoring a quirky and sarcatic tone despite the apparent bonhomie of his murals and installations, Avignon has kept a critical vision of “capitalism’s excesses”, also targeting the hypocrisy of the art world. Large corporations have commissioned pieces from him, yet the artist explains that “when an amateur pays €500 for one of my paintings, a company would have to spend 15,000 for the same artwork. From each according to his ability!”
Monday to Saturday: 12:30pm-7:30pm
Arts Factory
27 Rue de Charonne, 75011 Paris
+33 (0)6 22 85 35 86
www.artsfactory.net
Marinette Cueco – “Herbailles”
Until July 27th
Specialized in vegetal art and “herb weaver” since the 1960s, Marinette Cueco is a singular artist living between the French capital and the forests of her native Corrèze, where her workshop is still located. The Galerie Univer is featuring a selection of her pieces, testament to her skills as an herbalist, where leak, borage, comfrey, rose, and rhubarb come together.
Interlacings, mosaics, tapestries: Marinette Cueco’s vegetal compositions have received the recognition of the contemporary art world, starting as soon as 1986 and an exhibition at the City of Paris Museum of Modern Art. This year, her pieces made a notable appearance at the last edition of Art Paris – Grand Palais.
Wednesday to Saturday: 2pm-7pm
Galerie Univer
6 Cité de l’Ameublement, 75011 Paris
+33 (0)1 43 67 00 67
www.uni-ver.com
Collective Exhibition – “Life On Mars”
Until August 31st
A fertile laboratory for graphic experimentations, the Slow Galerie is introducing us to a set of its talented illustrators with the collective exhibition “Life On Mars”, a fantasy journey across the surface of the Red Planet.
Inspired by the imaginations of Ray Bradbury and David Bowie, ten artists represented by La Slow agency share their Martian explorations until August 31st, with around thirty pieces by Sabrina Chess, Camille de Cussac, Groduk & Boucar, Marie Guillard, Laura Junger, Jean Mallard, Virginie Morgand, Kristelle Rodeia, Clémence Thienpont, and Lili Wood.
Monday to Saturday: 12:30pm7:30pm
Slow Galerie
5 Rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud, 75011 Paris
+33 (0)1 43 55 44 68
www.slowgalerie.com
Elliott Erwitt – “Round Trip > Paris New York”
Until July 27th
Elliott Erwitt has been exploring the unrivalled photography playgrounds that are New York and Paris for 70 years. Born in the French capital, the artist has nonetheless spent most of his life in the American metropolis.
Nostalgic street scenes, urban snapshots and amused portraits: with “Roundtrip”, the photographer takes us on a transatlantic journey in black and white recalling the works of other great names of photography who, from Doisneau to Stettner, also managed to capture the soul of these two unique cities.
Tuesday to Saturday: 11am-7pm
Polka Galerie
Cour de Venise – 12-14 Rue Saint-Gilles, 75003 Paris
+33 (0)1 76 21 41 30
www.polkagalerie.com
Cao Fei – “HX”
Until August 26th
This summer, the Centre Pompidou is hosting a personal exhibit by Chinese artist Cao Fei, who has gained international recognition thanks to her colorful fantasy world inspired by pop culture: hip-hop, video games, cosplay, manga…
With « HX », the artist introduces us to the Beijing neighborhood of her workshop, itself set in a former movie theater of this changing industrial hub. For the international première of Cao Fei’s exhibit, the art museum’s Galerie 4 has gathered feature film, videos, photographies, archives and installations.
Full: €14 – Reduced: €11€/Free
Every Day (except Tuesday) : 11am-9pm
Centre Pompidou
Place Georges-Pompidou, 75004 Paris
+33 (0)1 44 78 12 33
www.centrepompidou.fr
Young European Photography Festival – “Circulation(s)”
Until July 21st
Organized by the association Fetart under the artistic direction of the collective The Red Eye, Le Centquatre is hosting the Circulation(s) festival dedicated to the new generation of European photographers. No less than fifty series of artworks will be exhibited under the vaults of the Parisian cultural center until June 30th.
For this new edition of the festival, the « France-Romania Season » provides Circulation(s) with an opportunity to highlight the works of Romanian galleries and photographers. Visitors can also enjoy a wide array of events and activities: guided tours, reviews of portfolios, art workshops, conferences, and even a pop-up studio to keep a unique memory of the festival with a personal print.
Full: 6€ – Reduced: 4€
Wednesday to Saturday: 2pm-7pm
Le Centquatre
5 Rue Curial, 75019 Paris
+33 (0)1 53 35 50 01
www.104.fr
Alice Gauthier – “J’aimerais effacer tes bords”
Until July 20th
A few steps away from the Place de la République, H Gallery presents “J’aimerais effacer tes bords” (I’d like to erase your edges), a selection of oniric pieces by Parisian artist Alice Gauthier. A guiding principle in her work, “the idea that in order to reach somebody’s soul, one should be able to cross their edges, skin, surface, which could be represented graphically by drawing a barrier or line.”
Microscopic elements, organisms, cross-sections of the Earth, human bodies: through her colorful paintings and drawings, the artist takes us to a poetic universe where mysterious “organic shapes” thrive.
The H Gallery is also featuring the parallel exhibit “Enfance en Eaux Troubles”, a dialogue between five artists (Corine Borgnet, Vincent Bousserez, Delphine Grenier, Bilal Hamdad and Fay Ku) to explore the theme of “childhood, this continence of lost innocence”.
Tuesday to Saturday: 2pm-7pm
H Gallery
90 Rue de la Folie Méricourt, 75011 Paris
+33 (0)1 48 06 67 38
www.h-gallery.fr
Sylvain Gripoix – “Tout ce qui parade”
Until August 31st
After Willy Ronis and William Daniels, the Pavillon Carré de Baudouin concludes its season dedicated to humanist photography with the heartwarming « Tout ce qui parade » by photographer Sylvain Gripoix. Great news for art enthusiats with a small budget: the visit is still free!
The half dozen series compiled are a mosaic of portraits, the artist’s specialty. Faces of the Parisian people and tourists on Rue de Rivoli, fanciful jazz musicians and wild rock music fans: from one room to the next, visitors can feel the city’s energy through Gripoix’s sensitive and colorful vision.
Tuesday to Saturday: 11am-6pm
Pavillon Carré de Baudouin
121 Rue de Ménilmontant, 75020 Paris
+33 (0)1 58 53 55 40
https://www.pavilloncarredebaudouin.fr
Dora Maar – Retrospective
Until July 29th
Photographer, painter, intellectual, activisit: the rich life and carreer of multidisciplinary artist Dora Maar get the recognition they deserve with this retrospective, the largest ever held in her native country.
In partnership with Los Angeles’ J. Paul Getty Museum and London’s Tate Modern, the museum compiled no less than five hundred artworks and documents to rediscover an artist who remains as modern as ever.
Full: €14 – Reduced: €11€/Free
Every Day (except Tuesday): 11am-9pm – Thursday: 11am-11pm
Centre Pompidou
Place Georges-Pompidou, 75004 Paris
+33 (0)1 44 78 12 33
www.centrepompidou.fr
Retrospective – “Electro – From Kraftwerk to Daft Punk”
Until August 11th
On the edge of the Parc de la Villette, the Paris Philharmonic is presenting a retrospective dedicated to the history of electronic music. Designed by 1024 architecture with musical arrangements by Laurent Garnier, it follows the development and diversity of the electro culture around the world, alternatively exploring « its imagery, innovations, mythologies, and connexions to visual arts ».
The exhibit benefited from many loans to create an unprecedented body of work on the subject: innovative instruments from the 1910s to today, contemporary art, photographies, graphic art and comics, musical and visual artworks – including a series of videos by Kraftwerk and an installation by legendary duo Daft Punk.
Full: 11€ – Reduced: 9€/6€/Free
Tuesday to Thursday: 2pm-8pm | Friday: 2pm-10pm | Saturday and Sunday: 12pm-8pm
Espace d’Exposition – Philharmonie de Paris
221 Avenue Jean Jaurès, 75019 Paris
+33 (0)1 44 84 44 84
philharmoniedeparis.fr
Cover Illustration: Paris, France, 1958 – Artwork from the exhibit “Round Trip > Paris New York” at Polka Galerie © Elliott Erwitt