The setting is sensational: FIAC, which takes place from 20 to 23 October, is swelled with 186 galleries from 26 different countries and this year stretches beyond the Grand Palais into the Petit Palais (where 4o works are shown inside and out at the front). The main...
‘Everything I’ve done in the cinema lately has been for the sake of painting. Cinema was magnificent in the '70s. There are fewer masterpieces these days.’ In 2008 the celebrated film maker and producer Claude Berri (1934-2009) whose credits include producing Roman...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxZ4qd07O1Y The Anglo-Indian writer Salman Rushdie, in Midnight’s Children,the book which launched his career,  tells the fascinating story of a young Indian doctor who is summoned each week to the bedside of a young woman who he...
There is a new very good space in France for international contemporary art – the Van Gogh Foundation in Arles. You can look for all the similarities you want between Vincent Van Gogh, who is almost the adoptive son of this region, and the artists programmed here (Yan...
With or without Brexit, London is a major focal point for the international art market. The decision of the British people in June to leave the European community has not had the impact on the art community we might have predicted. In fact, in same the week as the two...
The reigning king of Antwerp since the 17th century was an absolute genius when it came to painting, but also ambitious, dishonest and filthy rich. We’re talking, of course, about Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640). In his hometown, the studio where he worked is...
There is one school of contemporary art, going back to Marcel Duchamp, that involves playing pranks and ridiculing everything encountered in this absurd world of ours. You could be led to believe, on first appearances, that Scandinavian artists Elmgreen and Dragset,...
In this cynical and individualistic world we live in, acts of generosity always cause surprise. The gift in question is worth 6 million euros according to insurers. It came into existence last year when the Potanin Foundation, belonging to Russian oligarch Vladimir...
It begins with small talk and ends up with art and intimate confessions. I first met Parker Ito last year at a chic Parisian dinner hosted by the Friends of the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. I was seated at a table with the president of the society,...
What does it mean to be a political artist in this day and age? I can already see readers deliberating whether to close their screens… But don’t go anywhere, this won’t be boring. The most high profile political artist working today is Ai Weiwei. He posts, tweets, and...
When you travel around the world attending contemporary art fairs as I often do, you come to the realisation that these commercial events multiplying across the world are not unlike hotels. If luxury travellers are drawn to those grand, imposing palaces fitted out to...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4INLxy-ztgI Once upon a time, a country the size of a continent was slowly throwing off the shackles of authoritarianism. Citizens were beginning to travel abroad, accumulate possessions, launch new enterprises, and come...