Art Of The Day Weekly

Between Kusama and Ai Weiwei

The lady with the polka dots, the queen of psychedelic art, Yayoi Kusama, is being exhibited in the idyllic country setting of the Louisiana Museum near Copenhagen (as of 17 September) while polyhedral Hanne Darboven, died in 2009, and who practiced conceptual art, is in the limelight at the Haus der Kunst in Munich (as of 18 September). This will undoubtedly be a feminine autumn since Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster is taking over the Centre Pompidou (as of 23 September) and Palestinian artist Emily Jacir is at the Whitechapel Gallery in London (as of 30 September) for a retrospective where installations, filmed images and the creation of atmospheres have an important role. In London as well, Ai Weiwei, the trouble shooter of Chinese contemporary art, who had planted his porcelain grains at the Tate Modern in 2010, is now expected at the Royal Academy of Arts (as of 19 September), with his trees, marble surveillance cameras and his wall paper made of stock market shares. Two transversal events are particularly awaited: Lille 3000 shows how five international conurbations, among them Rio and Detroit, develop different models to adapt to the XXIst century (as of 26 September). At la Halle Saint-Pierre, in Paris, Hey III (as of 19 September) shows the vitality of art brut, outsider art, lowbrow art, and more widely, a type of street culture which modern Western society has slowly evacuated.

Lola Alvarez-Bravo, Jeff Wall, Laffont...

In 1868, Japan entered the Meiji era and opened up to the world. Photography, considered the perfect example of Western progress, made a remarked debut. Studios popped up everywhere staging local curiosities, and retouched and repainted the photographs. The Photography museum in Berlin shows in Pale Pink and Light Blue these first promising steps (since 4 September). Among the great masters of the XXth century, we knew Mexican artist Manuel Alvarez-Bravo. That name will now include the work done by his wife Lola Alvarez-Bravo (1907-1993), little known in spite of her interesting images of the real life of Mexico and its working class, which will be shown at the Maison de l’Amérique latine (as of 23 September). Francesca Woodman (1958-1981), left too early but her reputation grows constantly. She committed suicide and left behind a very enigmatic work. Portraits, the expression of an inscrutable difficulty to live, take a major place as can be seen at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm (since 5 September). Josef Koudelka, who became known for his portraits of gypsies in Central Europe, is exhibited at the Mapfre foundation in Madrid (as of 12 September) and Edward Burtynsky, who traces the beauty of landscapes worthy of Dante (in particular mines and, this time, large water areas) at Palazzo della Ragione in Milano (since 3 September). His Canadian compatriot Jeff Wall, usually associated to large formats on luminous chambers, presents a choice of small formats at the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson in Paris (as of 9 September). In the midst of the flow of exhibitions opening at the Maison européenne de la photographie, we note in particular a humanist photo-journalist, Jean-Pierre Laffont, who brought back a series of remarkable images–from Robert Kennedy to the prisoners in Arkansas – of his three decades spent in the U.S.A. (as of 9 September).

From Korea to Lithuania

The great number of biennales has our heads spinning. There was a time, long gone by, when Venice was all alone. September is particularly rich in this aspect and amateurs should reserve a “round-the-world” ticket from their favourite airline. Following the kick-off by Korean Gwangju (since 2 September), Istanbul will pick up in a tense geo-political situation (since 5 September). Lithuania seems to be particularly active: the small country with 3 million inhabitants combines the Baltic Triennial at Vilnius (since 5 September) and the Kaunas Biennial (as of 18 September). In France, Lyons of course is at the top of the billboard (as of 10 September) with a very simple title, “Modern life”, a way of questioning the concept of contemporary. At Göteborg (as of 12 September), we delve into History, the way of writing it, of manipulating it, of reading it like an open script. The 6th Biennale of Moscow (as of 22 September) intends to ask once again an essential question: how can we live, create and work together? All of these contemporary art events have a prestigious alter ego, the 29th edition of the Biennale of Antique dealers in Florence (as of 26 September), set by Pier Luigi Pizzi, held in the baroque setting of Palazzo Corsini of which the monumental staircase has just been restored.

11 September 2015 - PARIS - Atelier néerlandais

Opening of the Atelier néerlandais with a photo projet on the concept of shadow

Our selection of new exhibitions