With Art Basel Paris kicking off this week, and besides being painfully jealous (oh don’t worry, there is a video for that), there aren’t many cities in the world that do art better than the City of Lights. Here are a few highlights that will extend beyond the fair grounds and into the city itself. And with the art heist that lead off the week at the Louvre, part of me is happy to know art worthy of a bit of thievery. Keeps it fresh.
One of the things that cities and fairs have programmed well during their takeovers of a locale is the public art, and Semiose (who are also showing a great Helene Appel exhibition) have worked with artist Stefan Rinck’s on a sculpture that is now sitting on Avenue Winston Churchill, in front of the Grand Palais and Petit Palais. We mentioned Mr. Richter’s massive showing at both Zwirner and Fondation Louis Vuitton, but we have our eyes open as well to the Cristina BanBan showing at Perrotin, where the Spanish-born, NY-based painter continues to one of the leading female figure painters of her generation. Bremond Capela will be hosting a show with Ohio-born, Paris-based Blake Daniels, and Megan Mulrooney has a booth at the Upstairs Art Fair in the Hôtel Grand Amour.
Good Old Raisins and Peanuts is Monica Kim Garza’s solo show at Ruttkowski;68, which will probably equate to the best title of a show in France this year. Karyn Lyons continues the trend of American’s heading to Paris with a solo at STEMS, and the Niki de Saint Phalle, Jean Tinguely, Pontus Hulten exhibition at the Centre Pompidou is still open and one of the shows we heard rave reviews about this summer.
If you are into the underground that went above-ground and back again, H.R. GIGER PARIS at Long Story Short is one of the most interesting curations during the week (on view through November 15, 2025). The presentation is done in collaboration with Mai 36 Galerie and Kaleidoscope magazine, the work of the man who designed Ridley Scott’s alien will range from works on paper to sculpture.
One of the best things that should be on your bucket list is the what appears to be a fascinating show ECHO DELAY REVERB; American Art, Francophone Thought, up at the Palais de Tokyo. The exhibition is billed as exploring “the history of the transatlantic circulation of forms and ideas through the works of some sixty artists, bringing together a wide variety of mediums and a number of new commissions.” Go see it.
