From 5-8 April, the prestigious Art Paris Art Fair returns by gathering 142 galleries from 22 different countries, thus allowing visitors to have an overview of French and European art scenes, including from the post-war years until our contemporary days. 2018 will also be the 20th anniversary of the event.
Open to all forms of artistic expression, including video art and design, Art Paris Art Fair offers a theme-based approach emphasising discovery and rediscovery. This year’s guest country is Switzerland and the fair will also be taking a close look at the French art scene with a new theme developed especially for the twentieth anniversary, as well as the monographic exhibitions in Solo Show and emerging artists in Promises.
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The prolific and diverse Swiss art scene, with its taste for minimalism and offbeat sense of humour, is like the country itself, lying at the crossroads of different European traditions and cultures. Art historian and exhibition curator Karine Tissot has been entrusted with the Switzerland Guest of Honour programme
The Promises sector hosts 12 young galleries in existence less than six years, which may present up to three emerging artists each. As for the Solo Show, it is a monographic exhibition that offers a special moment in an artist’s career as it helps to develop a better understanding of his/her work.
The 2018 selection is characterized by the arrival of new countries, such as Canada (Christopher Cutts Gallery), Portugal (Galeria Carlos Carvalho), Russia (Art 4 and K35 galleries from Moscow), Kuwait (CAP Contemporary Art Platform), the Czech Republic (Cermak Eisenkraft Gallery) and Saudi Arabia (Misk Art).
Furthermore, many renowned Parisian galleries are expected to return or present for the very first time, including LOEVENBRUCK, Thomas Bernard-Cortex Athletico, Backslash, Dominique Fiat, Eric Dupont, Odile Ouizeman, Alain Gutharc, Jean Brolly, Polaris and Bertrand Grimont, Galerie Particulière, Eric Mouchet and Zlotowski.
For its 20th anniversary and in reference to its initial vocation of supporting the French art market, Art Paris Art Fair asked exhibition curator and art critic François Piron to take a subjective look at the French art scene. The idea was to select 20 artists among the projects presented by participating galleries and to produce an in-depth textual analysis of their work.
The monographic exhibitions will allow visitors to revisit the psychedelic works of 70s counter-culture dandy Frédéric Pardo (LOEVENBRUCK), Hessie’s feminist embroideries and collages (Galerie Arnaud Lefebvre), stencil art by Blek le Rat (Galerie Ange Basso) – who was a pioneer of urban art in the 80s -, blue monochromes by Geneviève Asse (Galerie Oniris Florent Paumelle) or Vincent Gicquel’s tragi-comic paintings (Galerie Thomas Bernard Cortex Athletico).
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Source: CovetED | Art Paris Art Fair
