Looking for a cultural break? From the Marais to La Villette through Belleville, we’ll be your guide for this month’s selection of art exhibits!
Isabelle Abiven – Portraits de Communardes
January 19th-29th
“Isabelle Abiven is self-taught. She received her training in evening classes, and in those of Frédéric Bouhon, a brilliant teacher of live models and the former president of the Ateliers de Ménilmontant, or by experimenting with media, until she discovered dry pastel, which lets matters and colors express themselves. For these portraits, more than 100 photographs, most of them judicial, were the source of her drawings. The tones are simple: red, light blue, gray, and brown make up her palette. The framing tightens on the faces, to capture their expressions, trying to imagine what they are thinking. Obviously, she wanted to know more about these women who were actors of history, of the Paris Commune… Her meetings with editor Gérald Dittmar, and the conception of the book Portraits de communardes, allowed her to know them even better: women who opened the way to the following struggles, also thanks to librarian Lila Vautel, who wrote their biographies, further revealing their history.”
Thursday to Sunday: 2pm-7pm – Free admission
Galerie des Ateliers d’Artistes de Belleville
1 rue Francis Picabia, 75020 Paris
ateliers-artistes-belleville.fr
Tom Arndt – American Reflections
Ernst Haas – The American West
Until January 21st
“After Home in 2014, Les Douches la Galerie dedicates a new solo exhibition to the work of Tom Arndt. Alongside the publication of the book American Reflections by the Atelier EXB, the exhibition brings together twenty-six photographs taken from 1970 to the present day, and printed by the artist. Together, they reveal the poetry of simple things in urban, suburban and rural America. / On the occasion of the publication of the book The American West, Les Douches la Galerie is pleased to present its fourth solo exhibition of Ernst Haas. Taken between 1952 and 1981, the thirty-two photographs presented here reflect his sensitive explorations of the Western landscapes and the broad technical palette that characterizes his work.”
Wednesday to Saturday: 2pm-7pm – Free admission
Les Douches La Galerie
5 rue Legouvé, 75010 Paris
www.lesdoucheslagalerie.com
Nadia Belerique, Camille Brée, Éléonore Cheneau, Joanna Piotrowska, Leslie Thornton, Céline Vaché-Olivieri – L’Irrésolue
January 26th to April 23rd
“Photography, film, painting, sculpture, installation and site-specific intervention: although they are based on a variety of media and techniques, the works of the six artists brought together in the exhibition L’Irrésolue (The Irresolute), presented from 26th January to 23rd April 2023 at Le Plateau and curated by Anne-Lou Vicente, share an appetite for mystery, secrecy, the uncertain and the invisible as much as the unspeakable. They form the framework of a non-linear, fragmented or even suspended narrative, offering a plural, open and changing interpretation.”
Wednesday to Sunday: 2pm-7pm – Free admission
FRAC Île-de-France – Le Plateau
22 rue des Alouettes, 75019 Paris
www.fraciledefrance.com
François-Xavier Bouchart – Belleville, années 70
Until January 15th
“François-Xavier Bouchart produced a photographic work about Belleville in the 1970s, many of whose buildings were then being destroyed. His personal view of this neighborhood complements those of Doisneau and Willy Ronis. Through photography, he brings his own vision of places, spaces, and interactions between the inhabitants of the neighborhood. He tells the story of its profound transformation at the time, the daily life of those who live there despite the destruction. Through his urban strolls and photographs, he continues the inventory made by Georges Perec in his documentary En remontant la Rue Vilin.”
Outdoors – Free exhibit
Murs du Pavillon Carré de Baudouin
Rue des Pyrénées & Rue de Ménilmontant, 75020 Paris
mairie20.paris.fr
Sanne De Wilde & Bénédicte Kurzen – Land of Ibeji
Until January 7th
“In Land of Ibeji, photographers Sanne De Wilde and Bénédicte Kurzen investigate the mythology of twins in Nigeria, where the rate of natural twin births is higher than anywhere else in the world. As sacred beings, the magical and spiritual powers of twins are celebrated with mythical fervor, but also condemned as unnatural. “Ibeji”, which means “double birth” and “the two inseparable” in Yoruba, represents the ultimate harmony between two people. Embracing this concept, the photographers have created intensely colorful portraits of twins. They play with the concept of doubling to create an imaginative photographic story, using double exposures, mirror reflections, and color filters.”
Wednesday to Friday: 2pm-7pm – Saturday: 11:30am-6pm – Free admission
Fisheye Gallery
2 rue de l’hôpital Saint-Louis, 75010 Paris
www.fisheyegallery.fr
Jean Mallard – L’heure bleue
Until January 24th
“The Slow Galerie presents the solo exhibition L’heure bleue by Jean Mallard, a rising figure in French illustration. The exhibition brings together thirty previously unpublished watercolors, all created between 2021 and 2022, mainly large formats, which took more than a year to complete. Inspired by a trip to Sicily, it is both a celebration of the passing of time and a quest for a lost paradise. Each drawing is a visual “safe place”, a mental refuge. He signs this exhibition as the imprint of a generation striving for wellness, to give a little thickness to time, to life, in a world in perpetual acceleration.”
Monday to Saturday: 11am-7pm – Free admission
Slow Galerie
5 rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud, 75011 Paris
www.slowgalerie.com
Boris Mikhaïlov – Ukrainian diary
Until January 15th
Going through the fifty years of stories told in the Ukrainian diary of photographer Boris Mikhailov, visitors realize how different its pages can be from one another. First, one discovers a personality both ingenious and eccentric, eager for artistic experimentation: the works of his series Yesterday’s Sandwich follow one another to the timeless melodies of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, a montage composed during the golden age of psychedelia in the 1960s and 1970s in order to generate “a new and metaphorical image”. For this exhibition, the MEP has brought together some twenty series of varied inspirations and themes, with a total of nearly 800 photographs presented on the floors of the institution in the heart of the Marais. Regularly subject to KGB visits during the Soviet era, Boris Mikhailov developed a personal aesthetic approach, sometimes described as “bad photography”, in order to escape the regime’s censorship. The photographer deployed a wealth of ingenuity to assume his alternately whimsical and disturbing gaze despite the political hazards and the imposition of an official imagery that was theoretically unavoidable. — Our article (French)
Wednesday to Friday: 11am-8pm (until 10pm on Thursdays) – Saturday & Sunday: 10am-8pm – €11/€7
Maison européenne de la photographie
5/7 Rue de Fourcy, 75004 Paris
www.mep-fr.org
Insurgé.e.s ! Regards sur celles et ceux de la Commune de 1871
Until March 6th
The Musée d’art et d’histoire Paul Éluard presents the exhibition Insurgé·es, which “intends to show new historical approaches to the Commune of 1871” based on the testimonies of those “who lived through the events, and passed on their memories”. With more than 15,000 artworks, archives, and other documents relating to the revolutionary experience of the spring of 1871, the Saint-Denis institution holds one of the most important collections dedicated to this event that still inspires political and artistic memories alike. Nearly 90 years after the great exhibition organized by the city in 1935 following the constitution of these collections, the Paul Éluard museum presents a new temporary exhibition retracing this history “at the level of men, women, and children – whether famous or lesser known, identified or anonymous, individuals or collectives. — Our article (French)
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday: 10am-5h30pm – Thursday: 10am-8pm – Saturday & Sunday: 2pm-6:30pm – €5/€3
Musée d’art et d’histoire Paul Éluard
22 bis rue Gabriel Péri, 93200 Saint-Denis
musee-saint-denis.com
Fiat Lux – Et la lumière fut
January 20th to April 15th
“From this biblical opening will rise a journey, a point of view by stages on the principle of the birth of the ‘original’ light, the history of a revelation, of fortuitous, critical, or desired mutations. So many key moments of (re)birth of light, as an aesthetic ideal, faith in our sciences, philosophical muse, symbol of life or the divine. To each light its encounter. The exhibit is based on a proposal by JulienTaïeb, guest curator of the exhibition, with Félicie D’Estienne D’Orves, Olivier Ratsi, and other visual artists.”
Wednesday to Friday: 2pm-6pm (until 9pm on Thursdays) – Saturday: 2pm-7pm – Free admission
Centre Tignous d’art contemporain
116 rue de Paris, 93100 Montreuil
centretignousdartcontemporain.fr
Parisiennes citoyennes! (1789-2000)
Until January 29th
It is a history made of revolts, pamphlets, strikes, indignations, petitions, demonstrations. That of the countless battles waged by the women of Paris to free themselves from the shackles imposed by the religious, moral, capitalist, and patriarchal orders. Conceived by a quartet comprising the director of the Carnavalet Museum Valérie Guillaume, the professor of contemporary history Christine Bard, and the curators Catherine Tambrun and Juliette Tanré-Szewczyk, Parisiennes citoyennes! brings together nearly 170 works and documents, some of which have never been shown before, in order to retrace this other revolution still taking place in the capital to this day. […] — Our article (French)
Tuesday to Sunday: 10am-6pm – €11/€9/€0 – Free admission to the rest of the museum
Musée Carnavalet – Histoire de Paris
23 rue de Sévigné, 75003 Paris
www.carnavalet.paris.fr
Jaune & Bleu
January 10th-15th
“The Parisian collective Le Génie de la Bastille is organizing an exhibition entitled Jaune & Bleu (Yellow & Blue) in support of Ukraine. At the initiative of the artists of the Génie de la Bastille and with the support of the Maison des Artistes, 25 artists of the collective and 25 Ukrainian artists have specifically composed a work on the theme of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. A minimum of 30% of the proceeds from the sale of the works will be donated to the Fondation de France and its program Solidarité Ukraine.”
Tuesday to Sunday: 2pm-8pm – Free admission
Galerie Le Génie de la Bastille
126 rue de Charonne, 75011 Paris
www.legeniedelabastille.com
Foire Foraine d’Art Contemporain
Until January 29th
“The Foire Foraine d’Art Contemporain took up residence this fall in the halls and under the vault of the Centquatre, forming a creative mosaic bringing together more than forty French and international artistic personalities. The public is well warned: the event ‘is not just an exhibition, but a whirlwind of artworks-attractions, strong sensations and ephemeral pleasures, between giddiness and cotton candy, ghost train and games of skill, ice palaces and cabinets of curiosities, psychedelic trips and gaming machines’. Since December 17th, this special kind of funfair has been expanded with the addition of five new contributions to the ‘Fantastic Stables’ located in the basement of the building.” — Our article (French)
Wednesday to Sunday: 2pm-7pm (reservations required) – €15/€12/€10/€8/€0
Centquatre
5 rue Curial, 75019 Paris
www.104.fr
Illustration (cropped) :
Still by CAT EFFEKT – Distruktur- Brazil, Russia, Germany, Lithuania, 16mm / hd, 40 min., 2011
© Distruktur Courtesy of the artists Distruktur and The Film Gallery
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