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...
Brancusi in Romania, back to his roots. A sharp exhibition
https://youtu.be/pgsp_dXITcA Timisoara For a long time Timișoara wasn’t a name that was familiar to the ears of the international crowd. Then in December 1989 the multicultural Romanian city became synonymous with horror when a mass grave was...
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...
Paris: the photographic autobiography of Juergen Teller in 700 images at the Grand Palais
Art is not beauty It shouldn’t be believed, as young children are often told, that art is simply what is beautiful. If that was the case, neither Rembrandt nor Cezanne, nor Schiele for instance (See here the report about Michelangelo and his...
Albertina: In the drawings of Michelangelo even warriors become graceful
Corporeal quality There’s only a handful of artists capable of giving drawings an almost corporeal quality in their works on paper. In Ingres we don’t just see portraits in black and white, but rather figures whose eyes sparkle with life. In...
Art Basel Miami Beach: the uncertainties of the world and the art market
Noisy parade Since it was founded in 2002, the fair showcasing current art, Art Basel Miami Beach (ABMB), has seen its image change considerably. Initially it suffered from a reputation mitigated by the very nature of the city hosting it, as an...
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...
Paul Guillaume: The dealer who made Modigliani move from sculpture to painting
Tortured artist https://youtu.be/1kbP4hweCBE?si=4x-0L34R3J5ReCM2 The most high-profile exhibitions are often the ones that bring together a maximum number of artworks. But there are smaller displays that can also be savoured with relish. Until...