What Shows to See During FIAC in Paris Next Week

Do yourself a favor: next week during FIAC, wander beyond the walls of the Grand Palais. Paris is a scattered city that has a lot of art to offer, everywhere. In the face of the infinite exploring options, the following list should provide some assisted guidance. Enjoy!

LUCINDA CHILDS / SOL LEWITT at GALERIE THADDAEUS ROPAC in Pantin
September 24-January 7, 2017
This show highlights the parallel development of the graphic methods of Lucinda Childs and Sol LeWitt during the 1970s. Childs’ piece Dance (1979), on which she collaborated with LeWitt and Philip Glass, gained widespread attention. The choreographer’s archives, which have never been exhibited before, will be on view and will echo Sol LeWitt’s Wall Drawing #357.

RENÉ MAGRITTE: LA TRAHISON DES IMAGES at CENTRE GEORGES POMPIDOU in Beaubourg
September 21-January 23, 2017
This latest retrospective of the Belgian surrealist René Magritte, curated by Didier Ottinger, focuses on five motifs that the painter often referenced in his work: fire, shadow, curtains, words, and fractions of the human body. The show reveals the artist’s exploration of resemblance and realism, and the deceptive nature of images.

THE 18TH FONDATION D’ENTREPRISE RICARD PRIZE at FONDATION D’ENTREPRISE RICARD at Concorde
September 6-October 29
The Fondation d’entreprise Ricard will present its 18th annual prize this fall in a show curated by Isabelle Cornaro, featuring the work of eight artists. The institution and its adjoining cinema, will showcase works that include film, visual art, performance, and installation by Anne Imhof, Clarisse Hahn, Clément Cogitore, Julien Crépieux, Louise Sartor, Marie Voignier, Mélanie Matranga, and Will Benedict.

TINO SEHGAL at PALAIS DE TOKYO in the 16th arrondissement
October 12-December 18
The Palais de Tokyo has given free reign to Tino Seghal this fall. The British-German artist is fully occupying the venue’s exhibiting space to create a series of varying environments that alter as different guest artists intervene. Seghal’s radical practice is “immaterial” given the content of his work consists in actions, movements, words, created purely through the human body and exchange.

TOM WESSELMANN at ALMINE RECH GALLERY in Le Marais
October 17-December 21
Almine Rech Gallery is hosting the most significant representation of Tom Wesselmann‘s work in Paris in over 20 years. The exhibition features a selection of historical works inspire by the artist’s 1970 exhibition at Sidney Janis Gallery in New York. Viewers can watch the first re-staging of Wesselmann’s performance piece “Bedroom Tit Box,” as well as other key pieces of his work.

ICONS OF MODERN ART: THE SHCHUKIN COLLECTION at FONDATION LOUIS VUITTON in the 16th arrondissement
October 22-February 20, 2017
This exhibition pays tribute to one of the greatest art patrons of the early 20th-century, Sergei Shchukin, the visionary Russian collector of French modern art. Shchukin forged relationships with modern art dealers Paul Durand-Ruel and Berthe Weill, and celebrated artists Monet and Matisse. These friendships heavily influenced the formation of his collection, which remains one of the most radical art collections of its time.

JOSÉPHINE MECKSEPER at GAGOSIAN GALLERY in the 8th arrondissement
October 19-December 21
The New York-based German artist Joséphine Meckseper creates work around the aesthetic language of Modernism, and the formal language of advertising and the commercial world. She creates shop window installations of mirrored vitrines, large-scale sculptures, and films, combining everyday objects with images and mementos from historical events.

DUANE HANSON / OLIVIER MOSSET at GAGOSIAN GALLERY 
September 29-November 12
For the first time, Gagosian Gallery will bring together the work of Duane Hanson and Olivier Mosset for an exhibition this fall. Hanson is known for his life-like sculptures of working class American archetypes, and Mosset is well known for his 200 identical paintings of a small black circle at the center of white canvas that he created between 1966 and 1974.

TAKASHI MURAKAMI at GALERIE PERROTIN in Le Marais
September 10-December 23
Marking the 12th solo exhibition with the gallery, “Learning the Magic of Painting” will take place over three spaces with more than 40 recent works, including a focus on the artist’s Arhats paintings, pieces from his “Ensō” series, and a new body of work inspired by Francis Bacon. Throughout, viewers will notice some key iconography across Murakami’s work—skulls, flowers, hypnotic patterns, and the artist’s alter ego, Mr. DOB.

BHARTI KHER at GALERIE PERROTIN
October 18-December 23
Bharti Kher‘s fourth solo show  at the gallery is presenting never seen artworks, as well as recent ones like the life-sized sculpture, “Six Women.” Viewers will be able to experience the artist’s combination of past mythological references with penetrating explorations of the contemporary society.

GREGORY CREWDSON at GALERIE DANIEL TEMPLON in Le Marais
September 10-October 29
The New York photographer devoted to capturing the flip-side of the American dream is having a solo show of 31 photographs. The new series, all taken in Becket, MA, are reminiscent of 19th-century landscapes and are reflective of the artist’s cinematic approach to photography. Here, Crewdson captures motionless figures in both natural environments and domestic interiors, charged with ambiguity.

THE GREAT ANIMAL ORCHESTRA at FONDATION CARTIER POUR L’ART CONTEMPORAIN in Montparnasse
July 2-January 8, 2017
“The Great Animal Orchestra” was inspired by the work of musician and bio-acoustician Bernie Krause. This original show unites a miscellany of international artists, inviting the viewer to immerse in an aesthetic and acoustic meditation around the increasingly threatened animal world. Krause contemplates ecosystems as a poet, and listens to animal vocal sounds with the attentiveness of a composer, to finally analyze them as a true scientific.

BERNARD BUFFET at MUSÉE D’ART MODERNE DE LA VILLE DE PARIS in the 16th arrondissement
October 14-February 26, 2017
Through a wide selection of paintings, this retrospective offers a careful rereading of Bernard Buffet’s works. The museum is one of the only institutions that has in its possession such a significant collection of works by the artist, notably thanks to the donations of Ida and Maurice Garnier. The output of the prolific artist has required a strict selection for the variety of his oeuvre to be fully revealed.

MAURIZIO CATTELAN at MONNAIE DE PARIS in the 6th arrondissement
October 22-January 8, 2017
The Monnaie de Paris is hosting works by the Italian sculptor Maurizio Cattelan for a surprise show. Indeed, having declared his retirement from the art scene back in 2011 after his show “All” at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, the artist, renown for his provocative portraits, wasn’t expected to be back anytime soon, let alone with a solo show in Paris during FIAC. Let’s hope these works, on view in “NOT AFRAID OF LOVE,” are as full of surprises.

FAISONS DE L’INCONNU UN ALLIÉ at LAFAYETTE ANTICIPATION in Le Marais
October 11-October 23, 2017
This show includes sculptures, installations, films, and varying performances specially commissioned by Lafayette Anticipation. Taking place in a temporary space in La Marais’ historic district, the show anticipates the opening of the foundation’s permanent space at 9 Rue du Plâtre (renovated by Rem Koolhaas/OMA), which is set to open fall 2017. It will bring together an international choice of 15 artists and designs selected for their innovative approach.

HERGÉ at GRAND PALAIS in the 8th arrondissment
September 28-January 15, 2017
Hergé, also known as Georges Remi, is the Belgian cartoonist behind The Adventures of Tintin. Often called “the father of the European comic strip,” he was one of the first French-speaking authors to emulate the American-style comic strip with speech bubbles. This exhibition looks back on his creative approach, fed by cinema, painting, photography, adventure novels, and his passion for drawing.

 

To read more, pick up the latest copy of Whitewaller in Paris next week. And for even more insight into FIAC and Paris Art Week, make sure to check out Whitewaller Paris’ guest editor Judith Benhamou-Huet’s website at judithbenhamouhuet.com.