Petit Palais
The Petit Palais was built for the 1900 Exposition Universelle (World‘s Fair). It now houses the City of Paris Museum of Fine Arts. It is located across from the Grand Palais on Avenue Winston-Churchill.
The Paris art fair, FIAC, expanded out of its usual site in the Grand Palais to the neighboring Petit Palais. The Petit Palais section was titled “On Site.” It enabled participating galleries to ‘exhibit in unique conditions’, featuring around 20 works. This year’s fair was its 43rd edition and ran from October 20-23. There were offerings from 185 galleries (up 12 on last year).
FYI: I tried to summarize the official explanation attached to the artwork. These installations were done by artists who are all well-known in the their field. Sometimes the artwork stands alone, but sometimes the artwork makes a lot more sense when you know the artist’s story. Sometimes, the artwork still doesn’t make any sense.
Sound of Wind 2017
Seung-taek Lee, b. 1932 - North Korea
In this re-enactment of Sound of Wind, created in the late 1970s, Seung-taek Lee uses red, blue, and silver vinyl strips as sculptural mediums responding to breezes, allowing the spectator both to visualize and to hear the wind. It has a sound like wind rustling through trees, but the sound seems oddly detached because there are no trees for the wind to flutter through.
Projet pour un musée sans batiment, (Project for a museum without building) 2017
Yona Friedman, b. 1923 - Budapest, Hungary
This art installation is an iconostase, an architecture or modular structure open for use by all those who visit it: anyone who enters the space is invited to attach or place an object onto, into or near the structure. It can be developed indefinitely. This “pop-up” structure is made of many colored hula hoops. Friedman has used the hula hoops in other art exhibits in other countries; each installation is assembled spontaneously, creating new variations of space with each turn.
Sculler 1998
Barry Flanagan, b. Wales 1941- d. Ibiza 2009
Barry Flanagan’s bronze hares are usually symbols of freedom, frolicking with abandon, but the Sculler is a silent, pensive figure seated aboard his vessel. If you use your imagination, his posture might remind you of Rodin’s Thinker, (1880).
Gloria Victis
Gloria Victis (Glory to the vanquished) by Antonin Mercié, is a full-scale bronze sculpture in the entry hall of the Petit Palais. It was created in 1874, following France's defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. The artist intended to honor those French soldiers who had fallen in the conflict. A winged female carries a dying French hero to glory. The reassurance that those defeated were nevertheless granted immortality made this work well-received among the French public. The work was criticized by a French sculptor for its celebration of defeat, “Glory to the losers.”
Test of Courage 1999
Martin Honert, b. 1953 - Germany
Test of Courage is based on a scene in Erich Kästner's 1933 children's book, The Flying Classroom. It captures the dramatic scene where, to demonstrate his courage to his friends, little Uli jumps from a high scaffold holding an umbrella. Test of Courage captures the moment of this leap. (Spoiler: In the book, he falls to the ground unconscious and breaks a leg.)
Test of Courage ( Close-up)
Crazy City IV 2000/2017
Barthélémy Toguo, b. 1967- Cameroun
Bent and manipulated brass instruments, Nicholas Hlobo’s installation stands as a silent orchestra. The title, Mphephethe uthe cwaka in his native Xhosa language, translates as “blowing them in silence”, relating to the power of music and sound, particularly the universality of the horn. This installation captures the rhythmic movement seen throughout his oeuvre.
This hybrid machine imitates the flight of birds, bringing together elements that trespass the nature/culture divide; the bamboo, once a living plant, becomes a construction material; the crow wings, once a living organ, are now pinned to the ground. The Flying Machine takes the shape of an unfinished project, a work-in-progress of a dreamer who, by observing nature, challenges and puts our bodies in an impossible position: the human body is up in the air, defying gravity, breaking the law - a formality of movement.
Onde highlights the strong links between sculpture and video. By extending the work, the artists play on chronophotographic sequencing – capturing movement in consecutive frames – specific to video. The 24 sheets of metal correspond to the 24 images comprising one second of an animated film. They are sculpturally frozen, unable to repeat themselves on a loop, suspended as in a perfect dissection of time.
Barthélémy Toguo, b. 1967- Cameroun
Ten wooden sculptures, carved directly from lime tree trunks, are placed on a checkerboard of African carpets. The silhouettes evoke the fantastical creatures with pointed horns and beaks that are often to be seen in his work. They embody the violence of a world where mankind hides its true colors.
Crazy City Dog
Crazy City Pelican
Child 1980
Vlassis Caniaris, b. 1928 d. 2011 - Athens
In the Petit Palais, Galerie Peter Kilchmann presents two complementary works from the migrant worker series: a large-scale installation representing an impoverished nursery entitled Child’s Room (1974) and the figure Child (1980). The works reflect Vlassis Caniaris’ preoccupation with the sociological impact of immigration in Europe in the 1960’s.
Child’s Room 1974
Vlassis Caniaris
Déchets Bourgeois (Waste and rubbish in a glass box on a wooden base) 1959
Arman, b. 1928 - Nice, d. 2005 - New York
Arman's persistent use of trash was a deliberate nod to the waste that mass production generates when time passes and goods are discarded. It also points to the wreckage of human history and the threat that humanity's production of waste might eventually literally bury us. In this respect, Arman's work might be read as an important early response to environmental issues.
Déchets Bourgeois & Robert
Filles Interdites 2017
Ida Ekblad, b.1980 - Oslo
The literal translation of the title is Girls Forbidden, but the given title is Gate.The sculpture is a man-high gate made of bronze. According to the official description, “a pair of cartoonish evil eyes is tied together by a bow ribbon, also cast in bronze.” From what I’ve read, Ekblad’s portals are either an invitation to passage or, in this case, the prevention of passage secured by a gatekeeper butterfly and a bow ribbon. The translated title makes sense if, for some reason, girls are not allowed passage through this gate--maybe only a woman may pass through. You decide, or better yet, come up with your own interpretation.
Hlobo, Nicholas
Hlobo, b. 1975 - South Africa
Bent and manipulated brass instruments, Nicholas Hlobo’s installation stands as a silent orchestra. The title, Mphephethe uthe cwaka in his native Xhosa language, translates as “blowing them in silence”, relating to the power of music and sound, particularly the universality of the horn. This installation captures the rhythmic movement seen throughout his oeuvre.
Mphephethe uthe cwaka, Hlobo
Ikarus 2014
Hans Schabus, b. 1970 - Vienna
In the work Ikarus Hans Schabus places his old Renault, compressed and mangled into a roughly rectangular shape, in the exhibition space. The carcass is suspended on a large gantry, a device which recalls the artist’s studio. A small nest sits on the top of the gantry, creating an unexpected contrast with the heavy machinery which supports it. (I missed this detail entirely.) In Greek mythology, Icarus flew too near the sun on wings of feathers and wax. When the wax in his wings melted, he tumbled out of the sky into the sea, where he drowned. Maybe derring-do resulting in destruction is the theme here?
In a Place Yet Unknown 2017
Otobong Nkanga, b. 1974 - Nigeria
In A Place Yet Unknown, the tapestry displays a poem by Otobong Nkanga, as well as the process of its composition. The end of the woven textile is dipped in ink, which over time rises through the tapestry. (I really need more info on this artwork.)
Se Pencher vers la Zone Dangereuse (Leaning toward the danger zone) 2017
Sheila Hicks b. 1934 - Hastings, Nebraska
Sheila Hick’s work contains an anthropological dimension: it is instrumental in having introduced textile into the language of contemporary art today, as if it were perfectly natural to paint and sculpt with linen, cotton and raffia. (Words fail me on this one.)
Untitled (from the series The Color of Time) 2016
Fabrice Samyn, b. 1981 - Brussels
The Color of Time presents twelve globes in hand blown plain glass that are each fashioned to suggest a different color of the sky during a time span of twelve hours from dawn to dusk during one day. The transformation of color suggests the gradual apparition of forms from the depths of obscurity, rendered possible by light and the interdependency of light and shadow.
Two Pieces 2017
Kim Yong-Ik, b. 1947 - Seoul
His work often mimics the visual language of modernism, such as abstract, painterly strokes and geometric forms. Known for his iconic polka-dot series, the artist repeated regularly-spaced circles in his paintings of an earlier time in his career.
Misthrown Dice creates a synthesis between the possibility of taking a gamble and that of using a technicality to avoid a random result. In other words the dice is “broken” and the potential six choices are left in indefinite limbo.
Two Pieces (Still indescribable)
FIAC: Art Hors les Murs
Since 2006, FIAC and the Musée du Louvre exhibit some twenty outdoor works in the Jardin des Tuileries. Sculptures, installations, site-specific projects, performances and sound pieces create an impressive outdoor exhibition. I love this outdoor exhibit, but I think there are fewer rather than more art installations from year to year.
Le Dernier Cri (The latest sensation) 1994
Erik Dietman b. 1937 - d. 2002 - Sweden
The Swedish artist is fond of weird-looking creatures. The primitive, animal nature of the sculpture is not only a piece of self-criticism but also a critique of modern sculpture, which Erik Dietman is always ready to challenge. Here we see a group of works creating a crazy conversation about modern art and, more specifically, about sculpture.
Le Dernier Cri (with pigeon)
Untitled, 2002, Erik Dietman
Famille Orsini (Bear Family) 1999, Erik Dietman
Freely you have received, Freely give 2016
Hera Buyuktasciyan, b. 1984 - Istanbul
Freely You Have Received, Freely Give was inspired by the detail of a relief that is located at the entrance gate of the Constantine and Helena Church in Sinasos, a village in Cappadocia, Turkey. The grape motifs found on the church’s barrel vault ceiling reflect on the notion of abundance and benevolence.
Give and Take (my translation)
Lame, (A thin metal plate, especially one of the overlapping steel plates in medieval armor) 2016 Marc Couturier, b. 1946 - France
In Marc Couturier’s work, blades are the perfect representation of balance between tension and weightlessness, light and matter, imperceptibility and visibility which are at the center of his practice.
Nails, Four through Eight 2015
Los Carpinteros (The Carpenters is the name of a collective of Cuban artists.)
The nails look as if they have been ripped off and thrown away after a previous use. The theme of failure comes to mind: distorted, twisted, they have lost their function.
The Misthrown Dice 2017
Gilles Barbier, b. 1965 - Vanuatu
The Flying Machine 2017
Ali Cherri, b. 1976 - Lebanon
Onde, (Wave) 2017
Florian Pugnaire b. 1980 & David Raffini, b 1982 - Nice, France
Onde
Les Statues meurent aussi,(Statues die, too) 2017
Stefan Rinck, b. 1973 - Berlin
These stone figures form a disparate ensemble of animals, monsters and mythical creatures. Together they form a heterogeneous population of non-humans from an ancient fictional world, woven from myths and legends.
Les Statues meurent aussi
Les Statues meurent aussi
Les Statues meurent aussi
Lentilles flottantes, (Floating Lentils) 1994
Marta Pan, b. 1923 - Budapest, Hungary
Originally inspired by botanical and organic forms, her work rapidly evolved towards increasingly simplified lines, to the point of abstraction. Her series of floating sculptures were designed so that they would match their surrounding environment.
Floating Lentils
In the background, you can just see the walkway down the center of the Tuileries, which leads to the Louvre Museum.
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