Looking for a cultural break? Many galleries may be closing their doors in August, but you will still be spoilt for choice in the capital. From the Marais to La Villette through Belleville, we’ll be your guide for this month’s selection of art exhibits!
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Agathe Brahami Ferron – “La Résilience des Tigres”
Until August 21st
In the heart of the Marais, Galerie Sabine Bayasli presents the first solo exhibition of the artist-ceramist Agathe Brahami Ferron. In “La Résilience des Tigres”, the graduate of Beaux-Arts de Paris “leads a kind of exuberant cruise” where the apparent relaxation conceals very different truths. Overconsumption, overadvertising, overtourism: behind the mastery of textures and an intoxicating palette of colors, her vacationers and their artifices evoke “a soothing and alienating superficiality [that] provides the counterfires to modern dehumanization”.
Tuesday to Saturday: 2pm-7pm – Free admission
Galerie Sabine Bayasli
99 Rue du Temple, 75003 Paris
galeriesabinebayasli.com
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Gilles Balmet and his collection – “Happy Together”
Until October 2nd
“Happy Together is a double exhibition dedicated to the work of artist Gilles Balmet and his surprising collection, built up over the past twenty years. The exhibition unfolds across the Pavillon Carré de Baudouin in two complementary parts. On the first floor, it presents the artist’s personal creations: these series of artworks on paper explore a territory between painting and drawing, abstraction and landscape representation. They were made without brushes, but instead following singular protocols. Upstairs, the second part of the exhibition focuses on Gilles Balmet’s other passion: building up a collection of contemporary artworks, which were mainly exchanged with other artists. This rare exhibition – artist’s collections are most often an intimate practice – is composed of 150 works by 150 French and international artists.”
Tuesday to Saturday: 2pm-6pm – Free admission
Pavillon Carré de Baudouin
121 rue de Ménilmontant, 75020 Paris
www.pavilloncarredebaudouin.fr
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Olivia de Bona – “De ma fenêtre”
Until August 29th
“Using a variety of techniques such as printmaking, straw marquetry, embossing, cut paper and painting, Olivia de Bona handles the representation of bodies and nature by engaging her fervent passion for the craft. […] An embrace, closed blinds, a brief glance; the subjects depicted by the artist sculpt and redefine the viewer’s place and multiply the points of view. This exhibition is a teeming story of gestures, delicate balances, tensions and silences. The notched paper, lacerated with a cutter, reveals a gentle reversal in the drawings; a bewitching sensuality cultivated by Olivia de Bona.” – Emma Gold
Tuesday to Sunday: 1pm-7pm – Free admission
Atelier Nanoh
22 rue Jules Vallès, 75011 Paris
nanoh.art
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Camille de Cussac – “Les folles années folles”
Until August 31st
“Les Folles années Folles”, a feel good and spirited exhibition, is certain to provide some cheerfulness after a rough year! An artist with a penchant for color and composition, Camille de Cussac stands out with her funny and poetic style, and an amused and tender look at contemporary life. The exhibition is visible until August 31st in the Oberkampf neighborhood, at Slow Galerie. Dedicated to illustration and graphic arts, installed in a former pharmacy, it features serigraphs, engravings, prints, and unique works with a selection inspired by “audacity, fantasy, poetry and irreverence”. – Lucie Goguillot
Monday to Saturday: 11am-7pm – Free admission
Slow Galerie
5 rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud, 75011 Paris
+33 (0)1 43 55 44 68
www.slowgalerie.com
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Magali Delporte, Pierre Durand, Vincent Fillon, and Romain Jouin – “Il était une fois un confinement”
Until September 25th
“On March 17, 2020, France began its first lockdown following the Covid-19 pandemic. In Paris, in the working-class neighborhoods of Belleville andMénilmontant, a small community of photographers, professionals and amateurs, started looking at their everyday environment, at the landscapes waiting directly under their windows but somewhat neglected by force of habit. There, in large housing blocks inherted from the 1960s and 1970s, they discovered a new way of life: more local, more united, and more communal. Through their pictures, they wanted to testify to the collective initiatives that emerged during this period, to the shared moments between neighbors who had barely known each other before.” – Our article (French)
Outdoors – Free admission
Résidence du Pressoir
Rue du Pressoir, rue des Maronites, rue Julien Lacroix et rue des Couronnes, 75020 Paris
Événément FB
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Daido Moriyama & Shomei Tomatsu – “Tokyo”
Until October 24th
“This original exhibition, which brings together the visions of two masters of contemporary Japanese photography, features 400 artworks from the 1950s to the present day. The first retrospective in France devoted to the carreer of Shomei Tomatsu, it is also one of the largest exhibitions organized around the work of Daido Moriyama in several years. Imagined by the photographers themselves, during Tomatsu’s lifetime, it is a vibrant testimony to the passion they both share for the Japanese capital and its residents. In the Studio, a space dedicated to young creation, the film by choreographer and visual artist Smaïl Kanouté introduces visitors to the extraordinary story of Yasuke Kurosan, Japan’s black samurai.”
Wednesday to Friday: 11am-8pm – Saturday & Sunday: 10am-8pm – €11/€7
Maison européenne de la photographie
5/7 Rue de Fourcy, 75004 Paris
+33 (0)1 44 78 75 00
www.mep-fr.org
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Jérôme Sainte-Luce – “Lespwineg : Esprits, là”
Until August 29th
“Through thirty drawings and paintings made in his workshop in Trois-Rivières (Guadeloupe), Jérôme Sainte-Luce presents an imaginary world articulated between memory and a visual research on the vestiges of the Native American culture in Guadeloupe. His work evokes the lightness of childhood and death through a raw and frontal art. Favoring instinctive gestures and bright colors on canvas and paper, the artist combines acrylic, Chinese ink, charcoal, pencil, pastel and collage.”
Wednesday to Friday: 4pm-7pm – Saturday: 12pm-3pm – Free admission
Galerie Derniers Jours
5 rue Saint-Blaise, 75020 Paris
derniersjourscom.wordpress.com
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Wawapod – “Une âme d’enfant devenu papa”
Until August 8th
From cartoons to video games, the colorful works of Parisian artist Wawapod are built as a tribute to the 1990s pop culture that rocked his childhood. “I feel like I have this approach where I’ll pick ingredients that I like, that give me pleasure, left and right, and mix them together to create a dish that makes me feel good”, he explains. The gallery 389 La Boutique will feature the “organized mess” of his latest artworks starting July 19, as part of its ambitious summer program showcasing young local artists.
Monday to Saturday: 12pm-8pm – Free admission
389 La Boutique
389 Rue des Pyrénées, 75020 Paris
www.389laboutique.com
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13bis – Solo Show
Until August 31st
Residents of the Belleville and Buttes-Chaumont neighborhoods will surely recognize the inimitable style of 13bis, whose black and white artworks have made their mark in the street art landscape of Eastern Paris. Scenes with mythological evocations, troubling or dreamy portraits, and other “poetic gestures” in which the jungle suddenly appears in the cityscape: the artist’s repertoir has been growing for more than ten years. On top of the Parc de Belleville, the charming gallery Les Temps Donnés features some of 13bis’ creations until the end of the month – you can also discover many more on the venue’s front window and its surroundings, including a brand new mural on the walls of the nearby restaurant Les Bols d’Antoine, or on a wall of Rue de l’Ermitage, a short walk away.
Wednesday to Sunday: 2pm-7pm – Free admission
Les Temps Donnés
16 rue des Envierges, 75020 Paris
www.lestempsdonnes.com
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“ZUT : Zone d’Urgence Temporaire Artistique”
Until September 26th
As usual, Paris’ cultural park offers an ambitious summer program for those spending the traditionally quiet month of August in the capital. From electro music to graphic arts, “Technopol and La Villette have joined forces to develop the ZUT (Zone d’Urgence Temporaire Artistique) concept across France. Sculptures, installations, performances, and photographs will be visible around the park of La Villette. Born from a desire to reconnect with the festive and the collective following the reopening of cultural venues, this spontaneous project brings together twenty contemporary artists with multiple practices.”
Grande Halle de la Villette and surroundings – Free admission
La Villette
Parc de la Villette, 75019 Paris
lavillette.com
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“Hotel Sahara”
Until October 2nd
“Following the success of ‘For the Love of the Game’ in 2018 and ‘Futures of Love’ in 2019, the Magasins généraux present their third summer cultural season, ‘Hotel Sahara’, from June 12th to October 2nd, 2021. Part of the Africa2020 Season, Hotel Sahara includes an exhibition conceived during a residency of ten young artists at the gates of the desert, and a festival dedicated to dance, music, performances, workshops, and mediation actions. The artists represented come from different fields of creation. Between 22 and 35 years old, they are from seven countries partly crossed by the Sahara. The summer event will bring together Alex Ayed, Tewa Barnosa, Salim Bayri, Tayeb Bayri, Hiba Elgizouli, Famakan Magassa, Sara Sadik, Ahmed Serour, Hanin Tarek, and Ismail Zaidy. The artists were invited to explore and question, from their personal experiences, the imaginary worlds of the vast Saharan space: what they reveal, indicate, but also what they conceal.”
Wednesday to Sunday: 12pm-7pm – Free admission (exhibit/festival)
Magasins généraux
1 rue de l’Ancien Canal, 93500 Pantin
magasinsgeneraux.com
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“Visages d’Asie”
Until September 16th
The Musée national des arts asiatiques – Guimet is joining forces with SNCF Gares & Connexions to present “Visages d’Asie”, a panorama bringing together some of the Paris institution’s most important works. In the hall and in front of Gare de l’Est, travelers will see “the profile of a Geisha reading a song book on a Japanese fan from the 18th century, a ‘mouth organ player’ on a polychrome terracotta from China’s Tang period (middle of the 7th century), and the enigmatic smile of the great king of Angkor, Jayavarman VII, dating from the end of the 12th century”. A perfect opportunity to escape to other horizons, whether you have a ticket or not!
Everyday: 5am-1am – Free admission
Gare de l’Est
Place du 11 novembre 1918, 75010 Paris
www.guimet.fr
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“À l’école du sport”
Until October 10th
In this particularly sports-oriented summer, forty photographs representing many disciplines are exhibited in the alleys and passages of Bercy Village, by the park of the same name. These black and white photographs, taken between 1945 and 1960, were brought together thanks to a partnership with the Institut national du sport, de l’expertise et de la performance (INSEP). Retracing key moments in the history of athletics, the exhibition aims to “pay tribute to a post-war generation that saw sport as a means of emancipation and freedom in a world to be rebuilt”.
Everyday: 7am-2am – Free admission
Bercy Village
Cour Saint-Émilion, 75012 Paris
www.bercyvillage.com
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“Énergies Désespoirs”
Until August 8th & August 24th-29th
The result of a partnership between the architecture firm Encore Heureux, the Anthropocene research section of the École urbaine de Lyon, and the artist Bonnefrite, the exhibition unfolds in a series of 120 painted posters, standing like a forest. Sixty black and white paintings of despair are confronted with sixty color paintings of energy, arranged back to back, exploring two sides of our planet in motion. Each poster is accompanied by scientific data adressing the Anthropocene, this new era where human activity is understood as a force acting irreversibly on the entire Earth, as well as initiatives to repair the planet at different scales.
Tuesday to Sunday: 12pm-7pm – Free admission
Le Centquatre
104 Rue d’Aubervilliers, 75019 Paris
www.104.fr
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Photographie d’illustration (recadrée) :
Exhibition view – “Énergies Désespoirs” at Centquatre © Encore Heureux / École urbaine de Lyon / Bonnefrite / Le Centquatre
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