This year’s edition of Art Paris looks at France’s diverse art scene, with a spotlight on up-and-coming artists and an impressive variety of mediums.
ADVERTISEMENTIn this episode of Cult, we take you inside Art Paris, the contemporary and modern art fair that’s become a staple in Europe’s spring arts calendar over the past 26 years.
This year’s edition stays true to the fair’s roots by shining a spotlight on the French art scene through a specially-curated exhibition, which visitors could discover across the 10,000-square-metre venue.
“Fragile Utopias: A Focus on the French Art Scene” celebrates the diversity of French art today, featuring both French artists and foreign artists who have sought refuge in France, like Iranian-born Elika Hedayat.
Her paintings are a surrealist look at life for women in Iran, a perfect union of utopia and dystopia, according to the guest curator of “Fragile Utopias” Éric de Chassey.
“She’s starting from what she experienced in Iran with repression, censorship and violence to women. But from that, she creates a new world,” de Chassey told Euronews Culture.
Art Paris also prominently features young artists and gallerists every year in its “Promesses” section. We meet 28-year-old French artist Morgane Ely, who told us about her subversive pop art that transforms fleeting images of pop culture through a traditional Japanese woodblocking technique.
The time-intensive works focus on women in the media, anchoring images in a lasting new physical form.
It’s the last year Art Paris will take place at the Grand Palais Éphémère – next year the fair returns to its original home across the River Seine, the newly-renovated Grand Palais.
