Braisenville
  • 29
  • Jun
  • 2013

New kid on the block, around the corner of the romantic studioloft and very tasty.

The ambiance of the restaurant is convivial: all plates are made for tasting (half the menu is à partager and half is à deguster) while a wall-length banquette, a countertop bar, and a lofty, clean space make for plenty of standing room and encourage intergroup mingling. A place for lovers and friends, Braisenville seems to abide by two credos: 1) patience is a virtue and 2) sharing is caring. Hey, maybe you’ll even make enough friends to order the chef’s colossal masterpiece: the black angus côte de bœuf. Ohhh, the art of braise.

 Braisenville,36 Rue Condorcet, 75009 Paris, Tel.:+33 9 50 91 21 74
open: 12:00–14:30, 19:30–23:30

 

Peter Buggenhout at Palais de Tokyo
  • 20
  • Jun
  • 2013

THE BLIND LEADING THE BLIND ( free access) – until 01/09/2013

Level 2 – Palier d’Honneur

Peter Buggenhout (b. 1963, lives and works in Ghent) is developing a sculpture practice in which the construction of hybrid forms refers back to a powerful universe, creating the feeling of an active power vested in the object. The artist uses common materials, rejects from everyday life that he does not hesitate to put together in such a way as to endow them with a completely different dimension. To do so he very often adds a mixture of animal blood and resin to his sculptures which he then coats with dust. This amalgam with its dark, dirty texture gives the visitor the simultaneous sensation of a certain fragility and an evocative and disturbing power.
By using these coated industrial leftovers, the artist operates the other way round from the archaeologist: He artificially recreates the process of natural sedimentation, conferring a special aura on  these objects. The ritual he imbues into the materials of his sculptures can evoke the stages of decline and decay, and reinforces the vulnerability of each and every one of us. Operating as so many archaeological pointers to the future, the works of Peter Buggenhout remind us that objects circulate continually in various forms, according to different backgrounds and surroundings, in the continuum of life’s cycle of disappearance and reappearance.
Tentacular, seductive yet threatening, the impressive sculpture designed for the Palais de Tokyo extends into both the verticality and horizontality of space, responding to the four cardinal points. Between Sibyl and Cerberus, this invasive structure suspended above the grand staircase invites the visitor on a chaotic and chimerical journey. With this work entitled The Blind Leading the Blind [“If one blind man guides another, they will both fall into the ditch.” (Matthew 15: 14)], Peter Buggenhout highlights an infinite mutation of forms engendered by our present-day world.
Good friends of us where overwhelmed my the installation.

PALAIS DE TOKYO,13, avenue du Président Wilson,75 116 Paris, M° Iéna / Alma Marceau

From 12 noon to 12 midnight every day except Tuesday

 

 

Ron Mueck at Foundation Cartier until October 27, 2013
  • 11
  • Jun
  • 2013

This is his first major exhibition in Europe since the hugely successful Fondation Cartier exhibition of 2005.

In addition to six important recent sculptures the show includes three produced especially for this event. A new film recording their creation has been made for the occasion by Gautier Deblonde. The film shows us how his art, is a real “work” of art, hard to produce with a lot of energy.

A Ron Mueck exhibition is a rare event.
Based in London, Ron Mueck has had highly acclaimed exhibitions around the world from Japan to Australia, New Zealand and Mexico, but shows of his new work in Europe have not been frequent occurrences. His human figures are meticulously detailed, with surprising changes of scale that place them as far from academic realism as they are from pop art or hyperrealism.

When in Melbourne 2010, I missed the exhibition, but I would like to go when in Paris. Good friends of ours where very impressed.

Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain,261, boulevard Raspail,75014 Paris, M° Raspail / Denfert-Rocherault