Reinforced safety

This decision was not taken lightly and only after speaking with the 147 exhibiting galleries and an extensive number of collectors to get their opinion. The green light was also given by the authorities (both the government and scientists) to go ahead with organising the fair in September, as did the other major events at the Grand Palais. Special health measures will be implemented and the maximum number of visitors will be limited to around 3,000. The layout of the fair will be modified with wider aisles and less exhibitors . Thermal cameras will be installed at the entrances if necessary, opening times will be adjusted, the number of visitors at the preview will be limited and the fair will be open exclusively to professionals and collectors every day from 10 till 12 pm.

A solidarity edition

This edition of the fair, which can be qualified as an act of resistance, reflects the desire to support the galleries and showcase their work, at a time when they and the artists they represent are in particular need of help. Several measures have been put in place, for example the payment of the remaining balance will not be requested before the fair and exhibitors may even choose to pay in several instalments, up until the end of the year if necessary. Additionally Art Paris will create a support fund to which it undertakes to give all the proceeds of ticket sales. The fund will provide concrete help to young galleries exhibiting at the fair that are in difficulty because of the crisis. More than 80 French and international galleries have already confirmed with enthusiasm that they will be taking part in September (34 have turned down the offer and some 30 are still thinking about it). In addition, a number of new galleries that were denied the chance of exhibiting at fairs this spring would also like to apply.

A much-awaited upturn in activity

According to the owners of Art Paris, Julien and Valentine Lecêtre: “A large majority of galleries that we have talked to believe that September will be a period of intense activity and the ideal time to restart business. We are ready to take up this challenge with our galleries and we will put all our energy into making sure that Art Paris gets the autumn cultural events programme at the Grand Palais off to the best start possible this September. Paris is a major world capital that continues to attract a lot of visitors. Not only does it boast a large number of cultural institutions, its collectors are particularly active.” One of the advantages of Art Paris is that, in addition to its international scope, it is also a local and regional fair. It is a reassuring fact that 80% of visitors either come from the Paris region (Île de France) or other areas of France.

A local presence of African artists

” Promesses “, a project to support young galleries and emerging creation will host 14 young galleries, many of them dealing with contemporary African art. The galleries will each be presenting between one and three emerging artists – and benefit from financial sponsorship from the fair. We will find among others the gallery Véronique Rieffel representing the Togolese artist Clay Apenouvon born in 1970 as well as Najia Mehadji a Franco-Moroccan artist born in 1950 in France. Gallery 31 Project will also be present with the Nigerian artist Kelani Abass born in 1979.

Art Paris Art Fair

Contemporary Art Fair

From 10 to 13 September 2020

Grand palais

Paris, France

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A record attendance, a critical success and good sales results in 2019

The last edition of Art Paris, which welcomed 150 galleries from 20 countries from 4 to 7 April 2019, closed with a record attendance of 63,257 visitors from 45 countries, an increase of 8% compared to 2018. There was a lot of enthusiasm for this 2019 edition that paid tribute to women artists and Latin America and it was apparent right from the opening night as some 18,575 guests descended upon the fair including numerous celebrities: actresses, figures from the worlds of politics and business, collectors, curators and museum directors. The fair was also pleased to welcome 94 friends of museum groups and art circles mainly from France, but also from abroad. These included: the Cercle International/Comités d’acquisition du MNAM Centre Pompidou (Paris), The Friends of the National Museum of Women in the Arts (Washington D.C.), the Patrons of the Amon Carter Museum of American Art (Texas), as well as Fluxus Art Projects and Spirit Now (London).

Amongst other things, the fair’s many monographic exhibitions drew the attention of collectors. There were 46 solo shows this year and several sold out, notably at Madrid-based gallery Michel Soskine Inc that sold all of its works by 1950s Spanish painter Angel Alonso (between 4,500 and 70,000 euros), L’ Paris which sold 18 works by Bosnian artist Radenko Milak (between 4,000 and 30 000 euros), not forgetting Un-spaced that found purchasers for all its sculptures by Brazilian artist Tulio Pinto. Several galleries, such as Daniel Templon, 313 Art Project (that sold a Lee Ufan for 100,000 euros), Nathalie Obadia, Paris-Beijing, Les Filles du Calvaire, Rabouan Moussian, Vallois, Miquel Alzuetta and Mark Hachem (which saw purchasers buy one work after another by its Latin American artists Cruz-Diez, Peres Flores and Soto for between 12,000 and 130,000 euros) reported that they had had their best results since their first participation in Art Paris. This year’s new arrivals were also successful with, for example, La Patinoire Royale – Valérie Bach selling several pieces by its women artists amongst others, notably an Alice Anderson (between 7,000 and 22,000 euros) and a Gisela Colon (for around 20,000 euros).

Art Paris, the leading spring event for modern and contemporary art
not be missed

Art Paris 2020 celebrates the French art scene and invites visitors to discover four dynamic cities: Barcelona, Lisbon, Madrid and Porto. In the 20 years since its first edition, Art Paris has become Paris’s must-see spring fair for modern and contemporary art, once again bringing together more than 150 galleries from over 20 different countries with a total of almost 1,000 artists.

Combining leading names in the art world and astounding discoveries from all over Europe, not forgetting a cosmopolitan approach to African, Asian, Latin American and Middle Eastern art from the post-war period to the present day, Art Paris demonstrates a passion for art in all its forms, encouraged in this by fair director Guillaume Piens. In addition, Art Paris boasts a strong editorial line that asserts the fair’s identity as one that favours passion for art over speculation and which dares to tread new paths. Not only is Art Paris neither too big, nor too small, it is hosted in a magnificent setting, the Grand Palais.

After women artists and Latin America in 2019, this year Art Paris pays tribute to the rich and dynamic French art scene in a focus curated by Gaël Charbau and invites you to discover the buzzing art scenes of Southern Europe’s major cities (Barcelona, Lisbon, Madrid and Porto).

Art Paris will be held once again at the Grand Palais in 2020, before becoming the first art event to move into the ephemeral Grand Palais that will be installed on the Champ de Mars in 2021, while renovation work is carried out on the historic Parisian monument.

An overview of the French Art Scene: Common and Uncommon Stories

Art Paris supports the French scene by associating an exhibition curator’s subjective, historical and critical point of view with a selection of specific projects by French artists presented by participating galleries. For Common and Uncommon Stories, independent curator and art critic Gaël Charbau will select twenty artists whose works highlight narrative notions and tell unique and universal stories. In 2003, Gaël Charbau founded the contemporary art journal Particules. He curates the Audi Talents awards and is the director of the Bourse Révélations Emerige, which supports emerging artists working in France. He regularly organises exhibitions in Europe and Asia and works with various institutions, programmes and patrons. He is the artistic advisor for Universcience (Palais de la Découverte and Cité des Sciences) and was the artistic director for Nuit Blanche 2018.

Southern Stars: Barcelona, Lisbon, Madrid and Porto

After Latin America, the 2020 edition of Art Paris is looking towards the Iberian Peninsula and the remarkable revival of the Barcelona, Lisbon, Madrid and Porto art scenes. The focus, led by independent curator Carolina Grau, will showcase the specific personality of each of these flourishing cities with a selection of galleries, artists and additional projects, such as a video programme, conferences and installations, which will combine to illustrate the artistic awakening of Spain and Portugal.

Carolina Grau has been working as an independent curator specialising in contemporary art for the last two decades. She has produced exhibitions for a wide range of institutions in the public and private sector in the United Kingdom, the USA, France, Portugal, Brazil, Italy and Spain, working both with established and upcoming artists. Grau was co-founder and co-curator of the Biennale of Jafre (2003 to 2015) and associate curator at the Arquipélago Centro de Artes Contemporaneas (Azores) in 2017. In 2019, she curated the mid-career retrospective of Spanish artist Angela de la Cruz at CGAC Santiago de Compostela and she is currently working on the solo exhibition of Portuguese artist Vasco Barata for the MAAT (Lisbon).

Solo Show: encouraging monographic exhibitions

Monographic exhibitions are a special moment in an artist’s career. They help develop a better understanding of their work and, in so doing, add to their reputation. Ever since 2015 and thanks to a subsidised tariff, the “Solo Show” sector has been encouraging the presentation of some forty monographic exhibitions spread throughout the Art Paris fair.

Promises: supporting young galleries and emerging artists

The “Promises” sector of Art Paris is located in the central part of the Grand Palais. It showcases 14 galleries with less than six years of existence, each of which will be presenting between one and three emerging artists. In this way, Art Paris acts as a catalyst for young French and international artists, offering them and emerging galleries an unprecedentedly high level of visibility in an international art event.

ART PARIS 2020

Grand Palais, Paris, France

May 28 – 31, 2020

22nd edition

Preview (by invitation only): Wednesday, May 27, 2020 from 6 pm to10pm

Admission fee: 28 € / 14 € for students and groups

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In the 20 years since its first edition, Art Paris has become Paris’s must-see spring fair for modern and contemporary art, once again bringing together more than 150 galleries from over 20 different countries with a total of almost 1,000 artists.

Combining leading names in the art world and astounding discoveries from all over Europe, not forgetting a cosmopolitan approach to African, Asian, Latin American and Middle Eastern art from the post-war period to the present day, Art Paris demonstrates a passion for art in all its forms, encouraged in this by fair director Guillaume Piens. In addition, Art Paris boasts a strong editorial line that asserts the fair’s identity as one that favours passion for art over speculation and which dares to tread new paths. Not only is Art Paris neither too big, nor too small, it is hosted in a magnificent setting, the Grand Palais.

After women artists and Latin America in 2019, this year Art Paris pays tribute to the rich and dynamic French art scene in a focus curated by Gaël Charbau and invites you to discover the buzzing art scenes of Southern Europe’s major cities (Barcelona, Lisbon, Madrid and Porto).

Art Paris will be held once again at the Grand Palais in 2020, before becoming the first art event to move into the ephemeral Grand Palais that will be installed on the Champ de Mars in 2021, while renovation work is carried out on the historic Parisian monument.

ART PARIS 2020

Grand Palais

May 28 – 31, 2020

22nd edition

Preview (by invitation only): Wednesday, May 27, 2020 from 6 pm to 10pm

Admission fee: 28 € / 14 € for students and groups

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Where the sun burns the skin: the presence of women artists from Latin America at Art Paris Art Fair 2019, a reflection…

“ no son todas las que están, ni están todas las que son ”

For its 2019 edition, Art Paris Art Fair presents “Southern Stars”, an exploration of Latin American art from 1960 to the present day, offering a historical and contemporary tour of the artistic production of this territory with its multiple tensions: artistic, political and existential.

This article is a reflection on the particularities of Latin American art made by women. From a historical, contemporary, social and commercial point of view.  Discussions with Valentina Locatelli, curator, and Catherine Petitgas, collector, were essential for the development of this reflection.

Tupi or not tupi

To be, in Latin America, unfolds in two ways: on the one hand the definition of an essence and on the other hand, a changing state. This duality of the first verb brings a fluidity dear to the artistic production of this territory where the sun burns – sometimes – the skin. A tension between being and not being, between essence and body, suggestion and affirmation, between tupi or not tupi⁽¹⁾ ?

This sun that burns – sometimes – the skin, forces us to be in constant movement, to create life strategies, refuges. Encourages us – sometimes – to look elsewhere to build our own territory. Latin American women actively participated in the act of sculpting 20th century art. Conversely, some of these artists have been kept in the shadows. This is partly due to latent sexism, conservative ideas that are gaining ground and diluting slowly, but also because of a system that defines the quality of the work through the artist’s visibility and success.

Woman artist / Woman of artist

At the beginning of the century, some figures pushed their branches towards the light, such as Tarsila do Amaral, Anita Malfati and Frida Kahlo for the modernist avant-gardes. Lygia Clark for the neo-concretists. Lygia Pape and Ana Mendieta for various mediums. Continuously perceived, for some of them, as the woman of an artist and not as a woman artist.

These names now printed in art history books (some, not all – names, and books) synthesize a constellation of artists that deserved to be considered as stars and not as satellites around other stars.

In order to establish a link with today’s production, we exchanged with curator Valentina Locatelli, based in Switzerland and exhibition curator for “Etoiles du Sud”. Locatelli believes that “contemporary art plays an important role in the image we have abroad of Latin America. First of all from a discovery point of view, because the richness of the production is impressive and deserves to be seen”, but specifies that this is only a “portrait of 8 female artists”, referring to the parallel presentation of a selection from Catherine Petitgas’ collection, named “Amazones” and which presents the work of women from the countries of the Amazon basin, mainly Brazil (Beatriz Milhazes, Maria Nepomuceno, Rivane Neueunschwander, Lygia Clark, Anna Bella Geiger), Colombia (Liliana Angulo, Beatriz González, Nohemí Pérez), Peru (Sandra Gamarra, Ximena Garrido-Lecca), Venezuela (Lucia Pizzani and Sol Calero).

Place of speech 

For Locatelli, curating an exhibition on the art scene in Latin America, being herself born and based in Europe, does not seem to him to be a barrier or create tensions at a time when questions related to the place of speech are becoming more and more present.“In my opinion, this will bring great richness for both sides; a very interesting dialogue between cultures. This will be an opportunity to broaden horizons and points of view. Especially since this selection was established “in constant consultation with artists and galleries”, says the curator.

Politeness of materials / Poetics of improvisation

Catherine Petitgas, collector, art historian and philanthropist, presents a selection from her collection in the exhibition called Amazons, as these 8 women on display share the fact that they come from countries in the Amazon region. For Petitgas, as the collection grows, the more crucial the research work becomes. “I work without a consultant. However, I find that to be a collector it is essential to be well informed, to know, to be aware. This research and reflection effort is therefore necessary”.

This relationship to a knowledge put into practice, active and sensitive, dialogues precisely with the particularities of the contemporary art scene in Latin America, according to the collector. The particularity of these angles of view (or attack?) transcends borders. First,“There is a resonance outside Latin America. We find megacities in America but also in Southeast Asia. This urban chaos, inequalities, exacerbated wealth, creates a particular art form,” Petitgas explains.

“An art form between Arte Povera and ready-made. There is a certain politeness towards the social context. A politeness resulting from the choice of materials. We are not going to create a golden work, it is not ethical”. This ability to find poetry in chaos is very present in Latin American production. The question of mood also finds its place in a pioneering way among these artists; would it be a strategy to sublimate difficult realities? To be voluntarily sonso, sneaky, phony, as the Brazilian writer Clarice Lispector suggests, would it be an escape from a latent violence of reality? Establish a poetics of the improviser, a manual for the use of the gambiarra⁽²⁾ ?

Building or severing bonds?

The modern and contemporary Colombian scene is for Catherine Petitgas a case study. Plunged into an acute crisis and fractured from the interior, the country found common ground thanks in part to art. The artist Doris Salcedo, for example, offers a very powerful memory work. Beatriz Gonzales is also responsible for this great work of memory and (re)building relationships: “Art tells what history cannot,” the artist often says. A memory not necessarily connected to nostalgia, but closely linked to the present.

Today, having to present an exhibition focused on women so that women can be exposed is, to some extent, tragic. It would never seem, when referring to any exhibition, that these are “male artists from Brazil, China, Cameroon”. On the other hand, this today encourages us to take this tragic burning in our hands and move forward. It is necessary to expose the fractures of a system that is certainly reinventing itself. To create a close link between arte e vida. Where the sun burns the skin, where it is hot even in the shade…

*Special thanks: Catherine Petitgas, Valentina Locatelli, Talisson Melo, Rafaela Sales, Joao Vitor Maturana.  

Art Paris Art Fair from 4th to 7th April 2019 – Grand Palais, Paris (France).

*For more information, please consult the following links: 

→ Art Paris Art Fair 2019 – Between discovery and diversity

→ www.artparis.com

_____________________________

⁽¹⁾Tupi or not Tupi, from the ” Manifeste Anthropophage “, published in 1928 by Oswald de Andrade. Tupi is the name of one of the tribes people living in Brazil before the arrival of the Portuguese.

⁽²⁾ A word from Brazilian Portuguese that refers to an improvised solution put in place when trying to fix an object without all the necessary tools. Like using chewing gum to keep the frame of a painting straight.

_____________________________

To go further : 

• Radical Women: Latin American Art, 1960-1985 – Cecilia Fajardo-Hill, Andrea Giunta (2017)
• Contemporary Art in Brazil – Hossein Amirsadeghi . Catherine Petitgas (2012)
• Contemporary Art in Colombia – Hossein Amirsadeghi . Catherine Petitgas (2016)
• Critica feminista en la teoria e historia del arte, genero y feminismo : perspectivas desde américa latina – Andrea giunta

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Discovery and diversity are the key words of this must-see spring event in Paris, which combines regional exploration of European art from the post-war period to the present day with a cosmopolitan look at emerging world creation..

For its 21st Art Paris edition, with forty-six solo shows (compared to thirty-six in 2018), 150 galleries (compared to 143 in 2018), 44% of new entries, 20 countries represented (including, for the first time, Cameroon, Bulgaria and Peru), the 2019 selection shows a strong move up the range. Favouring a thematic approach and open to all artistic media, Art Paris once again cultivates its difference, that of being an international fair turned towards discovery that focuses on the European stages from the post-war period to the present day while exploring new horizons of international creation whether they come from Asia, Africa, the Middle East or Latin America.

Women artists in the spotlight

Curated by AWARE: Archives of Women Artists, Research and Exhibitions, the 2019 edition presents a critical and subjective overview of the work of women artists in France.
25 specific projects by women artists will be selected from amongst the exhibits of participating galleries. This selection is divided into four themes: Abstraction, the Feminist Avant-Garde, Image and Theatricality. AWARE has also been invited to write a critical essay that situates each artist’s work in its historical context.

AWARE – Archives of Women Artists, Research and Exhibitions aims to produce, index and distribute information about 20^th century women artists – was co-founded in 2014 by art historian Camille Morineau, who specialises in women artists. She is also the director of exhibitions and collections at the Monnaie de Paris.

Among the list of women artists chosen by AWARE, we note the presence of the Franco-Malagasy artist Malala Andrialavidrazana presented by the Caroline Smulders gallery. Originally from Madagascar, Malala Andrialavidrazana (born in 1971) has lived in Paris since the early 1980s. The artist has made a name for himself through his photographs, which explore the links between personal history and cultural identity, intimacy and universality, and highlight the contrast between the perception of the world by the West and the countries of the South. In her series of Figures works, which she began in 2015, the artist explores the possibilities of collage to question the visual heritage of the colonial era and its impact on our perception of the world. By superimposing fragments of images from different periods such as ethnographic engravings, banknotes, record covers, etc., she tackles the subjects of otherness, cultural mixing or the need to question preconceptions from a “Eurocentric” imagination. It thus proposes a form of decolonization through images, all in allusion and poetry.

An exploration of Latin American art with the “Southern Stars” section

In 2019, Art Paris is setting out to explore Latin American artfrom the 1960s to the present day. Around twenty European, Asian and Latin American galleries are presenting an ensemble of 60 Argentinean, Brazilian, Chilean, Colombian, Cuban, Mexican, Peruvian and Venezuelan artists. In parallel, other projects such as a video programme, installation artworks, the presentation of works by Latin American women artists from the collection of Catherine Petitgas and conferences at the Maison de l’Amérique latine will highlight the creative effervescence that reigns on the continent.

*Southern Stars: An Exploration of Latin American Art is curated by the independent exhibition curator Valentina Locatelli, who is based in Switzerland.

As part of the celebration of Latin America, Art Paris also hosts a selection of works by South American artists from Catherine Petitgas‘ private collection. Entitled “Amazons”, this exhibition brings together women artists from the countries of the Amazon basin, mainly from Brazil (Beatriz Milhazes, Maria Nepomuceno, Rivane Neueunschwander, Lygia Clark, Anna Bella Geiger), Colombia (Liliana Angulo, Beatriz González, Nohemí Pérez), Peru (Sandra Gamarra, Ximena Garrido-Lecca), Venezuela (Lucia Pizzani and Sol Calero) and whose work focuses both on female identity, particularly among ethnic minorities, and on the tropical aesthetics of these regions rich in biodiversity and whose ecology is threatened.

*Catherine Petitgas is a London-based collector and art historian specialising in modern and contemporary art, with a particular focus on Latin America.

We invite you to read our article on the Southern Stars section and Catherine Petitgas' collection here

A historical and current journey through the Latin American scenes

Galleries spread throughout the fair’s different sectors invite visitors on a journey of discovery through Latin America’s different scenes, considering them from both a historical and contemporary point of view.

Galería Freijo is focusing on two historical figures from the Mexican scene, abstract sculptor and co-founder of Stridentism Germán Cueto and Felipe Ehrenberg, a leading light in the field of Mexican conceptual art in the 1970s. Numerous galleries are showcasing the work of the proponents of geometric abstraction from the 60s and 70s, including Carlos Cruz-Diez(Venezuela), Ivan Contreras-Brunet (Chilli), Darío Pérez-Flores (Venezuela) and Marino di Teana (Argentina). Women artists are also in the spotlight with solo shows featuring Leonor Fini, a surrealist painter born in Buenos Aires (Weinstein Gallery/Galerie Minsky); Mexican artist Carmen Mariscal, whose work addresses questions of gender and female stereotypes (Ana Mas Project); and Sandra Vásquez de la Horra, a Chilean artist who is the subject of a mini-retrospective at the Wooson Gallery featuring her drawings that touch on questions of sex and religion.

The Cuban scene is the subject of a group exhibition at the Xin Dong Cheng Gallery, which brings together six artists from different generations: Manuel Mendive, Raúl Martínez, Adonis Flores, René Francisco Rodríguez, Michel Mirabaland Yunier Hernández Figueroa.

Two galleries Nosco and Galerie Younique are showcasing the young Peruvian scene with emblematic figures such as José Carlos Martinat and José Luis Martinat, two brothers who are famous for their installations that question the past and the present of post-colonial societies. La Balsa Arte (Bogota/Medellin) is presenting a dialogue between the works of three figures from the Colombian scene with drawings (Juan Osorno), paintings (Julian Burgos) and installation art (Luis Fernando Peláez), whereas Galería Solo/Eva Albarran & Christian Bourdais has given over part of its space to Carlos Amorales, a major figure on the Mexican scene who works in different media such as video, installation art, photography and paper.

A particularly well represented African art scene 

For this 2019 edition of Art Paris, several galleries also present artists from African art scenes…

Among them: Galerie Dominique Fiat exhibits the works of Nicola Lo Calzo, Hardy Sy, Rachid Koraïchi (Algeria), Safâa Erruas (Morocco), but also several artists from Benin: Emo de Medeiros, Dominique Zinkpé, Cyprien Tokoudagba ; Galerie ARTCO – presents the works of Marcelo Brodsky, Marion Boehm, Justin Dingwall (South Africa) ; Galerie Capazza will exhibit the works of Francis Limérat (Algeria) ; Galerie MAM – Boris Nzebo, Hervé Yamguen (Cameroon), Ngimbi Luve (Congo), Oumar Ball (Mauritania), Ousmane Niang (Senegal) ; Galeria Filomena Soares – Kiluanji Kia Henda (Angola); Galerie Chauvy – Soly Cissé (Senegal); So Art Gallery – Morran Benlahcen (Morocco), Kabbaj Houda; Finally Galerie Claire Gastaud exhibits the works of Jean-Charles Eustache (Guadeloupe), and many others…

With such a complete program Art Paris 2019 is definitely the must-see event of spring in Paris !

ARTSKOP3437 official media partner of Art Paris Art Fair 2019

For more information on the 2019 edition of Art Paris, please consult the following links:  : 

→Art Paris Art Fair highlights women artists from Latin America

→ Official website of Art Paris Art Fair

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