Looking for a cultural break? From the Marais to Pantin through Belleville and La Villette, we’ll be your guide for this month’s selection of art exhibits!
Emilie-Camille Achir – Tripping
Until April 5th
Belleville-based artist Emilie-Camille Achir pays tribute to “women in introspection, in search of adventure and freedom”, through fifteen acrylic paintings. With a master’s degree in Art and Design from Creapole Paris, she also uses her training as a graphic designer to give life to Parisian interiors that have become refuges, undisturbed by the outside world, but still lulled by music, paintings, and lights. While multiplying artistic winks, ECA depicts the sensuality of a city which is also revealed through the frames of windows, becoming, for a time, paintings like any other. In this new exhibition, she also evokes “darker themes such as lust or addiction, in contrast to her usually naive style and the bright colors of our childhood”. — Our portrait & interview (French)
Monday to Friday: 12pm-3pm & 6pm-2am – Saturday: 6pm-2am – Free admission
POPUP du Label
14 rue Abel, 75012 Paris
www.popup.paris
Hugo Avigo, Camille Benarab-Lopez, Côme Clérino, Aurore Le Duc, Lulù Nuti, et Julian Simon – Din♡s
April 15th to June 18th
“Dinosaurs often evoke a certain nostalgia linked to childhood. This feeling is probably shared by many other millennials, having grown up in the 80’s or 90’s, the golden age of these “terrible lizards”. Literary, cinematographic, and other artificial memories of a time that we did not know, have not ceased to feed our fascination towards them, our imagination, and consequently to inspire us and our creativity. A scientific study, published on February 23rd, revealed that the meteorite, which ended the Cretaceous period and caused the mass extinction of the dinosaurs, would have crashed on Earth, 66 million years ago, in the spring. In this new spring, we at the gallery, Hugo Avigo, Camille Benarab-Lopez, Côme Clérino, Aurore Le Duc, Lulù Nuti and Julian Simon, have decided to keep their memory alive.”
Wednesday to Saturday: 2pm-7pm – Free admission
Galerie Chloe Salgado
61 rue de Saintonge, 75003 Paris
galeriechloesalgado.com
Mégane Brauer – Uni·e·s par le feu
April 2nd to May 8th
On the banks of Canal de l’Ourcq, the Magasins Généraux welcome the exhibition-residency of Mégane Brauer. In Uni-e-s par le feu, the young artist alludes to “the living conditions of marginalized people, especially those who have migrated”. Centered around solidarity, this immersive project was organized collectively with five young teenagers in exile. The exhibition aims, “thanks to copyright laws and the participation of the audience, to allow them to stay in France”. On nearly 800 square meters, in an environment adorned with “about sixty cypress trees, giving the impression that the place was set ablaze”, the artist will also present a selection of texts, objects, and sound works.
Wednesday to Sunday: 2pm-7pm – Free admission
Magasins Généraux
1 rue de l’Ancien Canal, 93500 Pantin
magasinsgeneraux.com
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Louis-Léopold Boilly – Parisian Chronicles
Until June 26th
The Musée Cognacq-Jay is dedicating its latest exhibition to the many talents of Louis-Léopold Boilly, “a gifted, prolific and unclassifiable artist” who depicted the lives of Parisians “from one revolution to the dawn of another” – 1789 and 1848. His street scenes, carnival crowds, and other popular jubilations were an opportunity to use his sense of detail and observation and immortalize the capital at a decisive time in its history. The 130 works presented feature an impressive gallery of portraits, between humor and realism, a specialty of the painter who lived and worked by the Grands Boulevards. The exhibit Chroniques parisiennes also includes more intimate but equally striking compositions, such as Deux jeunes femmes s’embrassant (1790-1794), considered “one of the first lesbian kisses” depicted in painting. Several of the artworks can be seen for the very first time in France. — Our article (French)
Tuesday to Sunday: 10am-6pm – €8/€6/€0
Musée Cognacq-Jay
8 rue Elzévir, 75003 Paris
www.museecognacqjay.paris.fr
Elvire Caillon & Léonard Martin – Sparring Partner
Alice Gauthier – Carte blanche
Until April 23rd
“Sparring Partner is the first duo exhibition of Elvire Caillon (born in 1989, lives and works in Paris) and Léonard Martin (born in 1991, lives and works in Paris) in a Parisian gallery; the two artists present new series of drawings and paintings directly related to their recent residencies at the Villa Medici in Rome and at the Lafayette Anticipations Foundation in Paris. Their complicity had previously led them to present their common work on stage, at Nanterre-Amandiers and at the Théâtre de la Cité Internationale. The gallery’s Lab also hosts a selection of works by artist Alice Gauthier, who speaks of our existence and human relationships by gamboling on the blurred boundaries between reality and imagination.”
Tuesday to Saturday: 12h-19h – Free admission
Galerie Sabine Bayasli
99 rue du Temple, 75003 Paris
galeriesabinebayasli.com
Patrick Cauvin – Haitian Paintings
April 6th-30th
“From April 6th to April 30th, the barge-library L’Eau et les Rêves features a painting exhibition in support of Haitian art and the country’s destitute children, a project made possible thanks to the association Promart Haiti and the artist Patrick Cauvin. The opening will take place on Wednesday, April 13th, at 6pm. On April 22nd, singer Bob Bovano will sing for an evening dedicated to local cuisine. All proceeds will go to the association Conepadh, which supports the children of Haiti.”
Tuesday to Saturday: 10am-11pm – Sunday: 10am-7pm – Free admission
Péniche-librairie L’Eau et les Rêves
9 quai de l’Oise, 75019 Paris
facebook.com/penichelibrairie
Axel Coutaz – Vois, un mets sage se crée…
April 14th to May 11th
“The paintings of Axel Coutaz make the farce and irony of our existences manifest. Through his pictorial practice, the artist tries to dispel some of the myths and codes that weave society. He draws from art history and current events to shape what we might identify: history is therefore created, but elusive. The artist’s approach requires that the painting be established on a liminal space, that separates two opposing meanings. The image is thus suspended between order and chaos, destruction and regeneration, the here and the beyond, the real and the unreal. Outside the normal boundaries of life and society, Axel Coutaz aims to represent human life as a potential event, a simulacrum that overrides any other certainty.” — Lina Kim
Monday to Friday: 11am-7pm – Free admission
La Maison Juste
4 impasse Charles Petit, 75011 Paris
instagram.com/galerie_lamaisonjuste
Annabelle de Freitas – Colors
Until April 30th
“It is difficult to escape Annabelle’s attentive and benevolent eye. Initiated to painting very early on, it is through the prism of photography that she now officiates, inspired by the world of the night that became her kingdom, and which she shoots according to her desires. She takes a dreamlike look at her muses, bringing a touch of surrealism and an offbeat vision. She plays with our era, remixing pretences through pictures that are full of poetry and humor.”
Tuesday to Saturday: 12pm-7pm – Free admission
Salon de coiffure Le Bouclard
56 bis rue Olivier Métra, 75020 Paris
facebook.com/lebouclardcoiffeur
Sandrine Elberg – Astra
Until April 9th
Photographer Sandrine Elberg propels us towards the stars with Astra, a hypnotizing exhibit hosted at Fisheye Gallery, a short walk away from Canal Saint-Martin. Far-away galaxies, dreamlike asteroids, supernovas, comets: celestial bodies abound in these black and white artworks using a wide range of techniques, from digital photography to postproduction, rayograph (interposition of an object between a sensitive paper and the light), and chemigram (use of light-sensitive paper). Featuring around twenty new prints, this exhibit was “conceived as a return from a long scientific journey dedicated to the observation of the stars”.
Wednesday to Friday: 2pm-7pm – Saturday: 11am-7pm – Free admission
Fisheye Gallery
2 rue de l’Hôpital Saint-Louis, 75010 Paris
www.fisheyegallery.fr
Groduk&Boucar – Hurricane 89
Until April 30th
“Groduk&Boucar, a collective consisting of Océane Carbou and Margaux Hauduc, have a childhood fascination for storm chasers, those enthusiasts who get up at dawn to contemplate storms, as magnificent as they are devastating. Sensitive to ecological issues and climate change, they have made it – in their own way – the theme of their latest exhibitions. Hurricane 89 takes place before, during and after a tornado, but in pop and acidulous colors that make it seem like a surfer could pass by at any moment. Nature loses its grip but remains beautiful, and we witness, both fascinated and resigned, the spectacle of a super-powerful nature that frees itself from its agony, in a brief moment of madness.”
Monday to Saturday: 11am-7pm – Free admission
Slow Galerie
5 rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud, 75011 Paris
www.slowgalerie.com
Hassiba Hô & Valauren – Ménil et une nuit
Until April 23rd
“Ménil et une nuit is an exhibition combining poetry, photography, and music, through four themes that echo the history of the neighborhood of Ménilmontant: its singularities, and its artistic, political, and multicultural effervescence. The outcome of this exhibition comes from the meeting between the poet Hassiba Hô and Valauren. Both residents of the neighborhood, they regularly crossed paths and discovered their common desire to pay tribute to Ménilmontant. Having already started photographic projects for one, and poetic endeavours for the other, Ménil et une nuit was born one summer evening, with a certain obviousness: creating an original proposal where poetry speaks to photography.”
Monday to Friday: 8:30am-5pm (until 7:30pm on Thursdays) – Saturday: 9am-12:30pm – Free admission
Mairie du 20e arrondissement
6 place Gambetta, 75020 Paris
mairie20.paris.fr
Eve Pinel – Exposition personnelle
April 7th-30th
Eve Pinel’s urban poetry is well known to the capital’s photographers who sometimes share their creations on Instagram: the artist uses her lens to tell the daily life and anecdotes of the big city, meeting its sometimes eccentric personalities, or discovering alleys and addresses with unusual charms. In the heart of north-east Paris’ 19th arrondissement, the Danube Palace presents a selection of her pictures until April 30th: a perfect opportunity to discover her artistic tributes to Paris, and to those who make it the place it is.
Monday to Friday: 8:30am-7:30pm – Free admission
Le Danube Palace
12 rue de la Solidarité, 75019 Paris
ledanubepalacecafe.com
Laetitia Tura – Desmemoria
April 22nd to July 2nd
“At the French-Spanish border: Karim, Othman, Ahmed are children and young adults who have grown up too fast. Rescued from the Open Arms, the Sea Watch or the Salvamento, they arrived in France after traveling thousands of kilometers. When they land in Europe, their lives are on hold and their bodies are subject to controls and threats of deportation. Their stories remind us of others: those of Octavio, Dolores, and Pedro, who crossed the same border 80 years ago. Their families fought against fascism during the Spanish war… in 1939, they left Franco’s Spain. The exhibition weaves threads between the children of yesterday’s exile and the children of contemporary exile. It unfolds quests for freedom, desires for life, colliding with blindness, voluntary oblivion, and the stuttering of history.”
Tuesday to Saturday: 2pm-6pm (until 7pm on Thursdays) – Free admission
Pavillon Carré de Baudouin
121 Rue de Ménilmontant, 75020 Paris
www.pavilloncarredebaudouin.fr
Michal Vittels – Static Movement
April 2nd-30th
“It is the human figure, and in particularly that of the woman, which has been her main subject of examination of Israeli artist Michale Vittels. Although she works, from time to time, from photographs, she often digs in her library of mental images. Postures serve her as a model, but never the faces. Her figures are alone and placed frontally, static, on usually neutral backgrounds that are not suggesting any particular place. They present attentive expressions; their gaze is carried inside or outwards. Confronted with the agitation of the world, her characters are created around personal perception and projections, caught in an inner/intimate journey.” — Marie-Cécile Berdaguer
Tuesday to Saturday: 11am-7pm – Free admission
Mémoire de l’Avenir
45/47 rue Ramponeau, 75020 Paris
www.memoire-a-venir.org
Festival 100% L’Expo
Until April 30th
“100% L’Expo, in La Villette’s Grande Halle and follies, presents the works of around fifty visual artists, designers, video artists, filmmakers, stylists, photographers, architects, performers from nine Parisian and regional art schools: Villa Arson, Beaux-Arts de Paris, École des Arts Décoratifs, Le Fresnoy – Studio national des arts contemporains, École nationale supérieure de la Photographie d’Arles, École du Centre national de danse contemporaine d’Angers, École nationale supérieure de Création Industrielle – les Ateliers, La Fémis, and Kourtrajmé. For the first time, La Villette is also collaborating with the Fondation Culture et Diversité. In addition, several collectives of young contemporary artists are invited to invest the Grande Halle in the form of carte blanches. An unprecedented panorama of young creation, with free admission!”
Wednesday to Sunday: 12pm-7pm (until 8pm on Saturdays) – Free admission
Grande Halle & Folies de la Villette
Parc de la Villette, 75019 Paris
lavillette.com
Embrace the Light
April 10th to May 28th
“For the inaugural exhibition of its new address, Maëlle Gallery invites the artists Minia Biabiany, Mirtho Linguet, Tabita Rézaire, Ernest Breleur, Linda Lopez, Jérémie Paul, Emmanuel Riviere and Floryan Varennes to “form a circle” around the gallery’s founder. Embrace the Light is a highly symbolic exhibition that appears as a necessary ritual to welcome and heal the place. Olivia Maëlle Breleur introduces her new space with a “choral exhibition”, fundamentally humanistic, intimate yet ostensible. It is a cry from the heart, an intuition, an act of benevolence. The Caribbean woman, the active mother, the passionate gallery owner, shares her states to speak to the living.” — Nina Sales
Tuesday to Saturday: 10h-18h – Free admission
Maëlle Galerie
29 rue de la Commune de Paris, 93230 Romainville
www.maellegalerie.com
Expolaroid – The month of instant photography
Until April 7th
On the heights of Belleville, the gallery Les Temps Donnés takes part in the event Expolaroid, the month of instant photography. Organized by the association of the same name, this annual festival aims to “bring together the initiatives and forces of the Polaroid community around the most famous medium of photographic creation”. On this occasion, the Belleville gallery presents a selection of works by artists Mila Nijinsky, Lucie Reflecto, Pierre Bonard, Vincent Ducard, and Bogdan Korczowski.
Wednesday to Sunday: 2pm-7pm – Free admission
Galerie Les Temps Donnés
16 rue des Envierges, 75020 Paris
www.lestempsdonnes.com
Les Artistes de Ménilmontant pris aux mots
April 6th-10th
“’Poetry’? Why asking such a thing from artists specialized in visual representation, who use few or no words? And yet poetry, in ancient Greek, means the making, the creation, which does not favor verbal creation, and poetry in plastic arts is “the plastic arts under the angle of the creation-fabrication”. ‘The creation’? I specify the sense in which I use it: the source of inspiration and the subject, it is oneself, it is giving form to oneself, one’s body, one’s emotions, one’s feelings… failing that, to create oneself! I therefore propose to ‘speak’ with a vocabulary, a plastic grammar, of ourselves, subjects already formed, or becoming. […]” — Daniel Barache
Wednesday to Friday: 3pm-8pm – Saturday & Sunday: 1pm-8pm – Free admission
Galerie Ménil’8
8 rue Boyer, 75020 Paris
ateliersdemenilmontant.org
Les diplomates face à la Shoah
Until May 8th
“Diplomats in the Shoah are still largely perceived through a handful of them, those who saved Jews. But the reality is much murkier. Caught up in very rigid state administrations and complex and changing foreign policies, some were nevertheless the first informants on the persecution and then on the extermination. Others, more rare, did save Jews. But most obeyed orders, trying to navigate the turmoil of World War II. Through their duties, diplomats played a key role in migration issues in general, particularly regarding the issue of German refugees in the late 1930s and during the conflict, before Germany banned Jews from emigrating in October 1941. After the war, diplomats participated in the negotiation of reparations to survivors, as well as in the international dimensions of the memory of the Shoah.” — Our article (French)
Everyday except Saturday: 10am-18pm (until 10pm on Thursday) – Free admission and visits in English
Mémorial de la Shoah
17 rue Geoffroy L’Asnier, 75004 Paris
www.memorialdelashoah.org
Festival Escale Photo
April 2nd-30th
“For its tenth edition, Escale Photo becomes a festival, co-constructed with Le 193, a young cooperative of image professionals. It features the pictures of 18 professional and amateur photographers in the streets of the city, according to an itinerary bringing several exhibition places together. For the first time, photojournalism plays a major role. Documentary and sensitive views, sentinels and poets, the authors of the images that line this walk bear witness to both intimate transformations, and the upheavals of our societies.”
Opening hours depending on the venues – Free admission
Le Pré-Saint-Gervais
Dix lieux différents – 93310 Le Pré-Saint-Gervais
www.villedupre.fr
Tignous Forever
April 14th to May 21st
“He was drawing, drawing. All the time. Everywhere. Drawings for the press. Comic strips. Drawings to tell the people and the world as they are. Drawings to dream. Drawings to make you think. Drawings to laugh together. Drawings for and with his children. He drew big-nosed men and pandas. Sketches, caricatures. Ah, he filled spiral notebooks, moleskin notebooks, school notebooks, hundreds of them, and also large kraft papers and small sticky papers. He drew all the time. He made watercolors too, and sometimes he used the wrong glass, drinking the one he had used for the brush. So, Tignous at the art center that bears his name, it’s like Tignous in his studio or at home. As a family. There is everything to see. We walk around. We wander. We stick our nose on the beautiful drawing. We savor. We get surprised. We laugh. We share.” — Chloé Verlhac
Mercredi à vendredi : 14h-18h (jusqu’à 21h le jeudi) – Samedi : 14h-19h – Entrée libre
Centre Tignous d’art contemporain
116 rue de Paris, 93100 Montreuil
centretignousdartcontemporain.fr
Illustration:
Traffic Jam – Artwork featured in the exhibit Hurricane 89 at Slow Galerie
© Groduk&Boucar
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