https://youtu.be/5D4kTB8rfiA Supernatural powers of the artist We have a tendency to endow great artist with quasi-supernatural powers. The most illustrious theorists of psychoanalysis claim that certain painters and other sculptors have, in...
Artgenève: scandals and good surprises at the little Swiss fair
A little niche Over the past eleven years the Artgenève fair has slowly but surely grown into a key event in the contemporary art world for this international city, famous for its free port among other things. Helmed by its director Thomas Hug,...
Joan Mitchell, Lee Lozano, Judy Chicago: three women artists in the spotlight along with their markets
Only women artists May 2009 marked a milestone in the history of contemporary art. That year, over the course of eight months, an exhibition took place at the Centre Pompidou which was the largest ever staged to showcase the work of women...
Huma Bhabha: the biggest exhibition ever staged by the artist is taking place in the South of France
https://youtu.be/0VAAjDI4Xzw Striking totems The first vision is striking. Entering the largest room at the Moco in Montpellier (3 hours and 15 minutes away from Paris on the fast train) is like discovering a celebratory space of some...
Lee Ufan: “Looking at Rembrandt’s self-portraits makes you feel insignificant”
https://youtu.be/_utYZdQf3V0 Korean living in Japan Lee Ufan (born in 1936), the Korean artist who lives in Japan, was the subject of a major retrospective which travelled all over Japan in 2022 and 2023 (see here the report I wrote covering...
A tribute to architect of the future Richard Rogers, in one of his buildings, suspended in the air
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhJroTSJock&feature=youtu.be Grand history of architects The grand history of 20th-century architects is made of cross-pollinations and collaborations. Take Norman Foster (Pritzker Prize 1999). He was the...
Parreno + Gordon = Zidane. A 21st-century masterpiece
Athletes like divinities In Greek and Roman times, as in the Italian Renaissance, athletes were celebrated by artists as veritable divinities. Alas, this idea was resurrected during the Nazi period, but that’s no reason to abandon the monopoly...
Antony Gormley at the Musée Rodin in Paris: “my new pieces are the result of the teachings of Rodin”
https://youtu.be/j-TmBXCxmMg?si=CAylDj4l4akb2H4F Two stars of sculpture British sculptor Antony Gormley (born in 1950) is a star of contemporary sculpture. His repertoire is limited, like Rodin’s, to using human silhouettes as his subjects. But...
Ser Serpas at Pinault Collection: ghosts and the deconsecration of the art market
https://youtu.be/M8A3Qyex0VI?si=cm960DT9VROfbZCS In her mother's arms When she was a child Ser Serpas (born in 1995), daughter of a female police officer who raised her by herself in Los Angeles, created a cinematographic culture for herself,...
Modern and contemporary art sales in New York: all the methods that continue building confidence in the market
Brave face It’s rare that Sotheby’s and Christie’s have interests that coincide. But during these times of acute uncertainty, as wars rage from Eastern Europe to the Middle East, environmental challenges shake the planet – Extinction Rebellion...
Paris Photo: disasters of war, memories of segregation and the grace of young models
Poor war hero The first thing that draws you in is his steady, clear gaze. In this image his face is tilted to the side because his head rests on a pillow. Then you notice his shaved head, marked at the top by a bloody swelling. In...
Anish Kapoor: blood, illusions and “l’origine du monde”. A new exhibition in Florence
https://youtu.be/U5-513yUZMM?si=TTwzLBKr5dzpOUYf Palazzo Strozzi The colossal Palazzo Strozzi in Florence has become, thanks to its director Arturo Galansino, in just a few years the benchmark site for two kinds of exhibitions. On the one hand...