It’s September and the Paris art scene is back in full swing! From the Marais to La Villette through Belleville, we’ll be your guide for this month’s selection of art exhibits.

.

.

– Version française –

.

.

Artistes de Ménilmontant – Open Studios

September 23rd-26th

The Association des Artistes de Ménilmontant will organize its thirtieth open days at the end of the month. Held on September 23rd-26th, 2021, this local event will be an opportunity to discover pieces by 140 artists and collectives exhibited in the many workshops in the neighborhood. The main information point for the upcoming Open Studios will be located at the Ménil’8 gallery, with a second designated venue at the ESAT Ménilmontant. For this anniversary, the artists of Ménilmontant will also partner with the Gare XP, a few steps away from Porte de Lilas, which will feature the works of about fifteen additional artists from Friday to Sunday. Finally, from street art to dance and poetry, performances, workshops and events will be held in different venues during the four days of the Open Studios. — Our article

September, Thursday 23rd, Friday 24th, Saturday 25th, Sunday 26th – 2pm-8pm (9pm on Thursday) – Free admission

Ménilmontant Neighborhood
Meeting Points: Galerie Ménil’8 : 8 rue Boyer, 75020 Paris / ESAT Ménilmontant : 40 rue des Panoyaux, 75020 Paris
ateliersdemenilmontant.org

.

.

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

.

.

Amélie Bertrand – “Super-Cannes”

Until October 2nd

“The idea of “California” exists, apart from the actual place, as a commercially constructed vision collectively held across the world. The Los Angeles-inflected mythology of a temperate, permanently sunny climate of palm trees and beaches suggests an aspirational lifestyle that is used to peddle all kinds of goods. Amélie Bertrand examines the trappings of the Californian idyll—including its color gradients, tropical foliage, and the clean modernist lines of its architecture. Her works begin on the computer, in the virtual space where such imagery circulates. She uses programs like Photoshop and InDesign to painstakingly construct the echo chamber in which these motifs reverberate, becoming refracted ever so slightly each time they circulate and are transposed into new contexts, such as that of Paris, where she lives and works. This gives rise to the simultaneously seductive and sinister qualities that numerous critics have identified in Bertrand’s works.” — Alex Bacon

Tuesday to Saturday: 11am-7pm – Free admission

Semiose
44 rue Quincampoix, 75004 Paris
semiose.com

.

.

Frédérique Bertrand, Manon Debaye, Valentine Cotte, Paul Lannes, and Mathias Martinez – “Newcomers”

Until October 2nd

“True to its DNA, the Arts Factory gallery has chosen to celebrate its 25th anniversary by inviting five newcomers to its program. From their first address in the Abbesses neighborhood to Rue de Charonne, Effi Mild and Laurent Zorzin – its two founders – have been exploring the contemporary graphic scene for a quarter of a century now; between drawing, comics, illustration and graphic design. Their encounters have often encouraged young artists at their beginnings, thus producing their first major gallery exhibitions. The exhibition “Newcomers” is part of this approach, giving an opportunity to Manon Debaye, Paul Lannes, Valentine Cotte, and Mathias Martinez – all graduates of the Haute École des arts du Rhin – to show their work to the Parisian public. Invited by Manon Debaye, Frédérique Bertrand will also present her collection of drawings “Mémoire Liquide”, initially created for the Central Vapeur festival.”

Monday to Saturday: 12:30pm-7:30pm – Free admission

Galerie Arts Factory
27 rue de Charonne, 75011 Paris
www.artsfactory.net

.

.

Caroline Bouyer – “Les mondes flottants”

Until September 12th

Caroline Bouyer, whose studio is located on Rue de Ménilmontant, is one of the winners of the 4th Espace Beaurepaire – Thérèse Gutmann Prize. She will present a series of her latest works in the gallery, next to the Canal Saint-Martin, until Sunday, September 12. In the text accompanying her drawings and prints, the artist explains that “the title ‘Images of the Floating World’ is a translation of the Japanese term ‘Ukiyo-e’, a Japanese artistic movement of popular paintings but also and above all of woodcuts. The themes of ‘Ukiyo-e’ are diverse, including ‘Meisho-e’ (famous places), a genre that can mix landscape representations and poetry”. The floating worlds of Caroline Bouyer, “between reality and imagination”, are composed of “a multitude of signs and fragments, collected a notebook in hand. These representations translate a common desire in our current societies, against the flow, the opposite of a civilized and urbanized environment. This series illustrates the outcome of a withdrawal, an abandonment to the powers of the imagination and wandering”.

Tuesday to Saturday: 1pm-7pm – Sunday: 12pm-6pm – Free admission

Espace Beaurepaire
28 Rue Beaurepaire, 75010 Paris
facebook.com/prixespacebeaurepaire

.

.

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

.

.

Demoiselle MM – Solo Show

September 9th-23rd

You may have already crossed paths with these figures on the walls of Belleville or the heights of Buttes-Chaumont, ”sometimes curious, sometimes mischievous”. These ”demoiselles”, inseparable from the now Parisian artist, tend to leave their canvases to blend into the urban landscape of the capital. Demoiselle MM practices street art ”to brighten the streets and delight passers-by”. If her paintings and collages echo fashion and traditional costumes, she also cites as inspirations several artists whose works sublimated the silhouettes and faces of women: Aubrey Beardsley, Frida Kahlo, Gustave Klimt, Alphonse Mucha… The opening of the exhibition will take place on Thursday, September 9th: an opportunity for a detour on the heights of Belleville, a favorite playground for local street artists.

Wednesday to Sunday: 2pm-7pm – Entrée libre

Les Temps Donnés
16 rue des Envierges, 75020 Paris
www.lestempsdonnes.com

.

.

Cécile Hartmann – “Le Serpent Noir”

Until September 26th

“Le Serpent Noir” is a documentary project by artist and director Cécile Hartmann, who set out to follow the trail of the Keystone pipeline across the Great Plains of the United States and Canada. Four years after the resistance movement of the First Nations at Standing Rock and Sacred Stones against the nearby threat of the Dakota Access Pipeline, the artist “shares the archive of this ‘time after’, where the struggles have already given way to the first alterations of the landscape and life forms”. The Keystone XL extension project was back in the news in January, as the new administration revoked the extension permit that would have seen the pipeline expand across Montana and Alberta, on the land of the Sioux and Blackfeet. Extended until September 26th, the exhibition “Le Serpent Noir” brings together photographs, sculptural elements, wall-painting and silkscreens.

Monday, Wednesday, Thursday & Friday: 1pm-6pm – Saturday & Sunday: 12pm-6pm – Free admission

MABA – Maison d’Art Bernard Anthonioz
16 Rue Charles VII, 94130 Nogent-sur-Marne
+33 (0)1 48 71 90 07
www.fondationdesartistes.fr

.

.

Mari Katayama – “Home Again”

Until October 24th

With an unconventional outlook at disability, within damaged landscapes, the multifaceted artist Mari Katayama questions the viewer’s relationship to the body. In this exhibition, the artist presents a series of self-portraits made since 2009, featuring her disability in burlesque, incongruous forms. She also unveils a new series, “In the water”, a collection of pieces resulting from the birth of her daughter, marking a turning point in her artistic vision. — Lucie Goguillot

Wednesday to Friday: 11am-8pm – Saturday and Sunday: 10h-20h – 11€/7€

Maison européenne de la photographie
5/7 Rue de Fourcy, 75004 Paris
www.mep-fr.org

.

.

Li Hongbo – “All is Illusion”

September 4th – October 9th

“After the success of his last solo exhibition presented by Danysz in Shanghai, Li Hongbo takes over the Parisian space of the gallery to turn it into a strange place where everything appears different than what it really is. Classical marble sculptures that can bend and stretch like accordions. Natural elements with eccentric shapes. Steel figurines carved out of butcher knives… This exhibition includes works made of paper and others made of steel, two materials that are at the core of the artist’s vocabulary. Part of the show centers on the revisiting of ancient statuary, for which the artist is best known. Other parts take us to some hallucinatory landscape where stones and timber wood appear completely distorted. For his first solo show in Paris, Li Hongbo settles in with his full palette, recreating for us the wealth and complexity of his world as an artist, with a number of works produced especially for this exhibition. An adventurous experience, full of surprises, where our entrenched conceptions of reality and illusion may well begin to lose their footing.”

Tuesday to Saturday: 11h-19h – Free admission

Danys Gallery
78 rue Amelot, 75011 Paris
danyszgallery.com

.

.

Raphaël Meyssan – “Les Damnés de la Commune, in the workhop of Raphaël Meyssan”

September 4th-October 16th

For eight years, graphic artist Raphaël Meyssan collected thousands of 19th century engravings to retrace the history of the 1871 Paris Commune. After an open-air exhibition, visible on the walls of the Pavillon Carré de Baudouin until September 15th, this new event around the work “Les Damnés de la Commune” takes us into his studio to discover his creative methods, and the real investigation he sometimes had to lead in the archives in order to “resurrect this forgotten history”. Visitors will be able to learn more about the engravings that make up his works, and the artistic processes involved in adapting period documents into graphic novels. The exhibition will be visible until October 16th in the 20th arrondissement city hall.

Monday to Saturday: 9am-5pm – Free admission

Mairie du 20ème arrondissement
Place Gambetta, 75020 Paris
quefaire.paris.fr

.

.

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
www.mep-fr.org

.

.

Kristelle Rodeia – “Ailleurs”

Until September 25th

“Implausibilities, magic, evocations of an immense and marvelous nature: this exhibit is an escape in the imagination of the artist. Kristelle Rodeia’s disposition for dreaming seems obvious, sensitive and without limit. It is not surprising that Lewis Caroll’s Alice in Wonderland is one of her favorite stories. If her drawings are drawn from the source of her imagination and fantasy, her line is always very precise, as if to help the unreal to become real, to facilitate our entry into her dreams. The values are reversed, the border between the two worlds becomes blurred.”

Monday to Saturday: 11am-7pm – Free admission

Slow Galerie
5 rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud, 75011 Paris
www.slowgalerie.com

.

.

Shane – “Lucky Shane”

September 17th – October 16th

“Nourished by a multitude of influences, from the American underground to family craftsmanship, Shane draws his inspiration from the styles he encounters, the techniques he experiments with, and the people he meets. He has tried many mediums without any prior training: airbrushing, blurring, abstract lettering, mixed with hyper-realistic drawing of various subjects. He combines all this in complex compositions teeming with details to observe, offering several degrees of reading and understanding. This native of Normandy has put his mark on the walls of Paris, and has also embellished the architecture of Mexico and Hamburg with large-scale murals.”

Tuesday to Sunday: 1pm-7pm – Free admission

Atelier Nanoh
22 rue Jules Vallès, 75011 Paris
nanoh.art

.

.

“ZUT: Zone d’Urgence Temporaire Artistique”

Until September 26th

Paris’ cultural park extends its ambitious summer program and invites many young artists to invest its lawns and buildings. 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

.

.

“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’, until October 2nd. Part of the Africa2020 Season, Hotel Sahara includes an exhibition conceived following 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: 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

.

.

“Vill’Up en Arts”

Until September 30th

North of Parc de la Villette, Vill’Up is launching its cultural season by bringing together several Parisian associations and artistic groups, including Les Arts fleurissent la ville, the Ateliers d’Artistes de Belleville, and the Artistes à la Bastille. Starting this month, they will have the opportunity to multiply installations and performances in the premises of the center, standing next to Cité des Sciences. Featuring street artists from the north-east of Paris, such as Le Long or Wild Wonder Woman, this month’s program promises “a beautiful immersion in the world of street art”, which is well represented in the surrounding neighborhoods.

Everyday: 9am-Midnight – Exhibit and festival: Free admission

Vill’Up
Parc de la Villette, 75019 Paris

.

.

“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

.

.

“À l’école du sport”

Until October 10th

After 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

.

.

Illustration:
Untitled, from the series “Pretty Woman”, 2017
© Daido Moriyama Photo Foundation – Courtesy Akio Nagasawa Gallery

.

.

.