MIRAGES XLV

version aJuly, it’s the last month of the year that we are still in town. Our decision is to dedicate this month to Paris and to a selection of the best exhibitions, which stand out for either their artworks or curating, that are on show both in Galleries and Museums. If you find yourself in Paris, take any chance to visit them at any cost (!).

We have already presented some of these exhibitions in our Magazine, like:  Junya Ishigami’s “Freeing Architecture” at Fondation Cartier, Bouchra Khalili’s “Blackboard” at  Jeu de Paume, Batia Suter’s  “Radial Grammar” at Le Bal and of course “CHILDHOOD: Another banana day for the dream–fish” one of the best exhibitions of the last years that is on presentation at Palais de Tokyo, should be on your Summer Visual Arts Agenda and you should not miss out, as they will be on show almost all Summer.

This month we are starting our visual tour from Le Marais and Center George Pompidou that presents at the ground floor the second part of its annual project “Mutations/Creations” with two very interesting exhibitions: “Coder le monde”, and Ryodi Ikeda’s amazing video and in-situ installation “Continuum” that takes off even the most demanding viewer(!) Contrary at the basement Sabine Weiss’ exhibition “Les villes, la rue, l’autre” with B&W photographs, makes me wonder why exists. A museum that has recently entered the field of contemporary art, combined with its Permanent Collection with very dynamic and excellent exhibitions, is the Musee de la Casse de la Nature, which really deserves to be visited for both reasons.

We are continuing in the Galleries of Marais are starting from the strict and simple-almost silent  Kapwani Kiwanga’s exhibition “Surface Tensions” at Galerie Jerome Poggi and after that we are going to Peter Halley’s colorful world that this time escapes  from the border of the canvas and extends to the walls of Xippas Gallery whit “AU-DESSOUS/AU-DESSUS”. In the group exhibition “Accrochage” at Galerie Karsten Greve, Georgia Russell’s works of old books and paper really stand out balancing between sculpture and 3-D, while Iván Argote’s sculptures and video areexciting is his solo exhibition “Deep Affection” at Galerie Perrotin, we go through John M. Armleder’s heretic exhibition at Almine Rech Gallery to Marian Goodman Gallery where Tacita Dean’s & Julie Mehretu’s joint exhibition is touching the absolute.

From Le Marais… to Maison Rouge at Le Bastille, its exhibition entitled “The flight or the dream of flying” is built on the delicate balances and limits of the possible and the impossible, it’s an interactive exhibition: Ilya & Emilia Kabakov, Panamarenko, Yves Klein, Kiki Smith, Rebeca Horn and many more…

With a little walk along the banks of the Seine and high spirit, crossing Le pont de Sully in about 15-20 minutes you will be in Saint Germain des Prés, where one of the best exhibitions of the year is waiting for you. “Another (M)other’’ is the title of  Anish Kapoor’s compelling exhibition that extents in both spaces of Galerie Kamel Mennour. Sculptures and Paintings confirm the conviction that the great and essential artist is far beyond and above the medium, since they contain all our existence, anxiety, fears and joys. And the art walk closes with painting at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, “L’espace est silence” an exhibition with works by Zao Wou-Ki (1920-2016), the Chinese artist who lived in Paris for fifteen years, on view are huge works that spread in space and prove that the good painting specifically the Abstraction can still be charming and seducing(!)

Also we are looking through and present you two new books, at first the “Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio” by Pu Songling illustrated by visual artist Lizzie Calligas and in parallel are on presentation 50 of her works at the bookstore Lemoni in Athens and second David Zwirner Books published the Monograph for the 2017 exhibition with Felix Gonzalez-Torres’s work at David Zwirner New York, that through a series of distinct installations gives another approach to the artist oeuvre.

TRACES: Through this column, loved particularly from our readers, we recall great artists living or not. This month we remember: Chuck Close, David Hockney, Piero Manzoni, Nam June Paik, Andy Goldsmith and Marcel Duchamp.

In Architecture relevant is the Column TRIBUTE: Philip Johnson, Richard Rogers, Glenn Murcurt and Eduardo Souto de Moura.

In the heart of Summer starts Liverpool Biennial 2018 and also a series of very interesting exhibitions around the world, that we will present you this month!

Good Month (!)
9/7/18
Efi Michalarou