Contemporary art: Paris+, the calm before the storm?

Work by Titus Kaphar on the stand of the Gagosian gallery at Paris+ by Art Basel.

© Siegfried Forster / RFI

Text by: Siegfried Forster Follow

8 mins

It is the unmissable meeting place for contemporary art, with collectors and galleries from all continents.

156 galleries represent the top of the top of the international scene gathered at the Grand Palais Ephémère in Paris.

Created in 1974, this very popular global event is no longer called Fiac, but Paris+ by Art Basel, following a merciless competition won by the Swiss fair.

After a day reserved for VIP customers, the doors open from October 20 to 23 to the general public.

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Peace is at what price?

At Paris+, the New York gallery Gladstone raised the white flag.

Stripped of its blue and red colors, made of heat-sealed plastic sheets, the American flag appears more peaceful.

A work almost three meters wide, created in 2022 by African-American artist Arthur Jafa, icon of the Black Lives Matter generation.

Hanging on the wall,

calmly and confidently seeks out its buyer.

The price?

“ 

 » 

A standard phrase often heard during this Wednesday reserved for privileged customers, but where buyers crowded in such impressive numbers on the stands that the "VIP" label, so important for the self-esteem of collectors, risked losing a little of its value.

After the handicap of Brexit for London, Paris has established itself as the center of gravity of the European art market, but the stranglehold of Art Basel on the Parisian fair raises the question of the balance of power between the global players and the more locally anchored galleries.

For now, Paris+ has kept up appearances, nothing has really changed, but the mood strongly looks like a storm to come during the next edition in 2023 when the real changes will be implemented.

Barely created, the works are already sold

At Gagosian, the biggest among the “megagalleries” of the fair, the discussion around the price of Titus Kaphar's hypnotic work was quickly over: “ 

 ”.

The 46-year-old American painter, sculptor and filmmaker recounts and reverses the history of United States art from an African-American point of view.

This time, using tar, he hijacks a portrait that belonged to Thomas Jefferson.

Because, it turns out that this American president, reputed to be very liberal, was in fact the owner of slaves...

At Kamel Mennour, the Franco-Algerian artist Zineb Sedira, who lives and works in the United Kingdom, offers a fascinating tapestry, an oriental scene populated by women and blurs.

is a work dedicated to her parents and the struggles for women's freedoms and emancipation.

It is part of his multidisciplinary exhibition presented at the Venice Biennale of Art.

And it is once again a piece created in 2022. It is one of the markers of Paris+, many of the exhibited works found their way to the studio at the Grand Palais Éphémère in record time.

Outward sign of an art market that is overflowing with money and seems hungry for novelty.

The Parisian gallery of Chantal Crousel displays her commitment through an oil painting on newspaper and a linen canvas.

The playground of the Thai artist Rirkrit Tiravanija, born in Buenos Aires, is the globalization of the world and a work based on reciprocity, conviviality and hospitality.

With

, the artist promises buyers to donate 25 percent of the money earned to five associations for refugees.

Cela Paul, an artist born in 1959 in India and living since her studies in the United Kingdom, has this time implemented her fragile line, vibrant with emotions for a

, releasing an extraordinary sensitivity.

Lucian Freud's former muse has lost none of her artistic aura.

Who are we really looking at?

What about the works painted in 2022 by Kudzanai-Violet Hwami?

Also exhibited at the stand of the Italian gallery of Victoria Miro, the monumental paintings of the 28-year-old painter disturb our gaze.

Born in Zimbabwe, she grew up in South Africa and now lives in the UK.

The heart of his work revolves around questions of identity, the diaspora, but also the queer movement.

The use of collage allows him to assemble very diverse and varied elements to create new meanings.

In her painting, she integrates upturned family photos as well as pornographic images or expresses the ambiguity of gender by showing a very masculine naked body, but where sex is erased.

To send us back the question of which person we are really looking at.

For a fair claiming its network on four continents as the main asset of its strength, the African presence remains minimalist, with only two galleries from the African continent.

Is it to fill this void that Paris+ is organizing a conversation on October 22 devoted to the theme “ 

 »?

With 165 galleries from 30 countries, Paris+ represents five more countries, but also five fewer galleries than the last edition of Fiac in 2021, organized in the midst of the Covid period.

And many other galleries now present African or Afro-descendant artists, starting with Mariane Ibrahim, a renowned Chicago gallery owner, or André Magnin, the pioneer on the contemporary African art market, not forgetting Nathalie Obadia, a Parisian gallery owner. proud of the works of African-American Mickalene Thomas.

The broken sculptures, patched up...

After entering 2019 as the first gallery in sub-Saharan Africa at Fiac, Cécile Fakhoury has kept her place.

The gallery owner, both based in Abidjan, Dakar and Paris, sees her selection under the sign of continuity and presents a series of paintings by Roméo Mivekannin.

The very popular Beninese artist takes pleasure in rewriting the history of Western art with his monumental works by imposing his head where he is not invited.

“ 

says Cécile Fakhoury.

Selma Feriani, Tunisian gallery owner, also has a foothold on the European continent, in London.

Since 2017, she is the first Tunisian to have broken through on the FIAC, and today at Paris+.

At home, we find the same dynamic, with many sales and works created in 2022. Like this work by the artist Nidhal Chamekh representing with graphite powder on paper an ancient sculpture, a plaster: " 

 “Or the two shovels in the form of two languages, created by the Moroccan artist M'Barek Bouhchichi:” 

analyzes Selma Feriani.

 »

The ecological responsibility of Paris+ by Art Basel

Rather modest for a leader in its field is the ecological project of Paris+.

At the forefront of sales and marketing, Paris+ by Art Basel clearly has no intention of revolutionizing the ecological awareness of collectors and speculators who have come from all over the world to spend millions of euros and thousands of tons of carbon for works of art.

However, it is precisely the hypermobility of visitors, gallery owners and exhibitors from all over the world that generally generates more than 74% of the carbon pollution of art fairs, according to a study published in December 2021 in the Shift Project report, 

. 

What is the ambition of Paris+ in the ecological field concerning the carbon footprint, the public, the exhibitors, the works?

" 

explains Clément Delépin, director of Paris+ by Art Basel.

Last April, Art Paris claimed the first eco-design approach in the art sector at the Grand Palais Ephémère.

Today, to show themselves responsible in the face of the challenges of the ecological crisis, the organizers of Paris+ should publicly commit to a life cycle analysis (LCA), to a publication of their carbon footprint and to the enhancement of artists and works taking up the challenge of the ecological crisis.

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Paris + by Art Basel: "In the continuity of the Fiac", assures its director Clément Delépine