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ONLY BE PARISIAN
Only-Be Parisian
La Suite Elle Décoration – Jean-Paul Gaultier
The Cite de l´Architectura et du Patrimonine exhibits the decorative facility Suite Elle Decoración created by the prominent fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier in the old department of Jaques Carlu, architect of the Palais de Chaillor. This installation organized by Elle Magazine and the Cité de l’Architectura et du Patrimonine will be opened until October and can visited Saturdays and Sundays. This Gaultier installation corresponds to the third version of the Suite Elle Décoration that Elle y Cité de l’Architectura et du Patrimonine, organize to enhance the importance that design has in decoration and to situate it at the same level of the rest of other artistic creations. The last two versions were created by Christian Lacroix and Martin Margiela. Gaultier, as usual is provocative and breaks with all the habitual Paris schemes, He builds his creation using the classic blue and white nautical stripes even if the apartment is situated in front of the magnificent Eiffel Tower. The Designer, who´s main priority is to dress up bodies, focused on the project as if the walls and floors of the apartment was a motionless body and dresses them up, including the furniture, something that creates and interesting effect of forms, perspectives and light movements with anthropomorphic textures. His reputation as enfant terrible has taken his style to the highest fashion and design levels. Even if he doesn´t have a designer academic formation, Gaultier is one of the few fashion designers that has revolutionized the classic sexist aesthetic appearance in fashion, promoting the use of Kilts or masculine skirts in his collection “Hombre Objeto”(Man Object) Gaultier´s disrespect towards traditional fashion...
Baudelaire and the damned poets
A damned poet is he who takes his life and work outside of the conventions of society. Illness, disgrace, drug abuse and alcohol – all leading to a premature death are the typical components to the life story of a doomed poet or artist. And his works are laden with doom and gloom, like a backdrop. The term damned poet comes from a poetic essay by Verlaine, Les Poètes maudits, in which he pays homage to 6 poets: Tristan Corbière, Arthur Rimbaud, Stéphane Mallarmé, Marceline Desbordes-Valmore, Auguste Villiers de L’ Isle-Adam and Pobre Lelian (Paul Verlaine). The first French poet known as a kind of proto- damned poet is François Villon, who lived in the 15th century. Other doomed poets include Antonin Artaud, John Keats, Edgar Allan Poe, the Count of Lautremont, Dylan Thomas – and the great suicidal Argentinian poets Alejandra Pizarnik y Alfonsina Storni. Undoubtedly, the list goes on. The French poetry from the end of the 19th century, known as “fin de siécle” was at the hands of many of these poets, who didn´t conform to the conventional rules, and were ignored by the critics. However, after the materialisation of symbolism, these artists who had innovated the form, began to be recognised more in society. Baudelaire is one of the best doomed poets. An innovator of French literature, and prophet of modern poetry, his work was very influenced by romanticism, whilst rejecting the movement´s rhetoric on the importance of nature. He was initiated into the literary movement known as the Parnasianos and came to to be one of the key exponents of Symbolism. With his ironic...
Fears in Paris
In early 1998, as if foreseeing his own death, which occurred just a few months later, the English poet Ted Hughes gave the press a collection of letter-poems written in first person over a period of more than 25 years directed almost entirely to his first wife, American poet Sylvia Plath, who committed suicide 35 years earlier. It´s called Birthday Letters, a book of breathtaking beauty where Hughes first addressed, since the time that perhaps he first saw her in the Strand in London in a group photo of Fulbright Scholars, the question of death and absence of Plath and the tense, beautiful and dramatic life they shared. Through this collection we know that behind his modest wedding in Joycean Bloomsday (June 16, when Ulysses passes) in the parish of St George of the Chimney Sweeps in the district of Holborn in London, on whose altar, where Plath saw “the sky open and show ripe riches to fall on us, Hughes, levitating at her side, saw himself subjected to a strange time: the bewitched future”, both went to a Paris honeymoon. There, while Plath enthusiastically revived the myth of the city that we owe to Stein, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Miller and other Americans of the Lost Generation, for Hughes, secretly, there was only “the capital / Of the occupation and the old nightmare. / He read each bullet scar on the Quai stones / With a familiar sinister feeling, / And stared at the afflicted way in which the sun exposed the sidewalk / Below…” It isn’t difficult to share the feelings of the English poet when visiting the French...
Hoptimum Festival: Hip hop in Paris
Between the 4th – 26th of March, the festival Hoptimum will be bringing to Paris its eclectic mix of dance, rap and graffiti. It´s a thirteen night long party, and takes place in east Paris, an area long associated with urban and hip hop cultures, and will this year be themed around music from South Africa and Vietnam. Other fresh new editions to the festival this year include the collaboration of Marie-Agnes Gillot, the Ópera de Paris’ prima ballerina, with the performance Les Rares Différences. Considered an innovator of contemporary dance, she was attracted to hip hop for its strong rhythmic harmony, as she has explained in interviews; “I’ve learnt a lot from hip hop, especially disassociation of movement.” In it’s mere 30 minutes, Les Rares Differences packs in classical dance, hip hop, along with extra atmosphere provided by music from Willie Bobo, Nunernik Otto, Bela Bartok and Gabriel Fauré. It will be on the 5th March, in Lagny-sur-Marne. The hip hop movement was born in the United States in the 70s, growing out of the Afro-American and Latino street cultures of New York’s poorer neighbourhoods. Hip hop culture is made up of four types of artistic expression – Mcing or rapping, Djing or turntable, breakdance or Bboying, and all types of graffiti. Those who were part of the original hip hop culture saw themselves as anti-establishment, and fighting against social and racial discrimination. The festival isn’t just political, but sensual too, as seen in Sébastien Ramirez and Hyun-Hung Wang´s Amor & Psyche, winner of the Special Prize in Osaka in 2009. Two choreographers, they have created a dance...
Band of Horses live in Paris
Band of Horses is a band that promotes indie folk rock music with a sound characteristic of the South of the US. The group was born in 2004 in Seattle created by Ben Bridwell and now, besides him, also Ryan Monroe, Tyler Ramsey, Bill Reynolds and Creighton Barrett are part of the group. The band started playing very quickly and soon caught the attention of both labels and fans but it was in 2006 when they submitted *Everything All the Time* with the original *line up*, which really managed to reach the mainstream. In his debut album the song “The Funeral” was included, which was used not only for different TV advertisements but also in TV shows, video games and movies. This made Band of Horses quickly become very famous and presented, for example, different television programs viewed by millions of people across the United States. Their second production was Cease To Begin, which also had a more than substantial success. To make this production, after being out of their town for months making presentations around the world, they decided to return to their hometown to live the life they had when they were not famous and to compose and produce as before. On May 18 they launched Infinite Arms, a production which are still releasing worldwide. This time the artists from Seattle will come to France to make a presentation at La Cigale on February 26. More info: http://www.lacigale.fr/ La Cigale: 120 bd Rochechouart, 75018 Paris, Paris, France MiLK If you want to see one of the most important indie rock folk bands around the world what you...
History of contemporary fashion in Paris
Paris is without doubt the European fashion capital and home to some of the legendary fashion brands, where the most interesting trends are generated. Along these lines, the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris opened “Les années 1990 & 2000. Contemporary fashion history”, an exhibition that includes some of the most important trends of recent fashion history. Starting from the 90´s, which marked a turning point and time of maturity in the fashion market, the exhibition presents the most radical and avant-garde fashion couture proposals, which changed the hitherto existing aesthetic parameters. Among them, there are the incredible designs by Azzedine Alaia and Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garcons, which undoubtedly belong to the realm of conceptual fashion, with its legendary collections like “The hunchbacked” Spring / Summer 1997 by Kawakubo . Nor can Jean Paul Gaultier and Yamamoto Yohi and the minimalism of Jil Sander and Helmut Lang miss this event, who opted for a sober and elegant simplicity. On the opposite side we find the frantic British designers like John Galliano, who began designing for Dior, and the enfant terrible of fashion Alexander McQueen, whose legacy is further proof of his incredible talent. The exhibition opened on November 25 and has an interesting publication which includes notes on significant moments from the 90s. More info at: http://www.lesartsdecoratifs.fr/francais/mode-et-textile/expositions-70/actuellement-447/les-annees-1990-2000-histoire/ For all fashion lovers this show is probably one of the most interesting of the season. Heloise Battista So we recommend you to rent apartments in Paris visit the exhibition at the Museum of Decorative Arts until May 8, and incidentally, you can let yourself be inspired by the amazing...
Exhibition Chase the Dragon at Magda Danysz, Paris
The exhibition “Chase the Dragon” refers to that first experience with drugs and the growing obsession with them, that will take you to look for that sweet chill you felt that first time. A metaphor that also describes perfectly the addiction painting can be for an artist. When the creation moment becomes as addictive as the drug itself, and the artist, for a moment, gives the world a look inward, as the smoke cloud that traces a figure in the air, only to disappear immediately. And now Magda Danysz Gallery in Paris presents an exhibition that takes us into the eccentric and obsessive world of a diverse group of contemporary artists who will not leave you indifferent. Larry Clark’s images, film and photography legend, are an amazing visual impact, as well as filmmaker Gaspard Noe´s creative experiments, or Dada’s incredible pieces. And they all have in common their ability to thrill and make you feel the most intense emotions. On the other hand, the exhibition will also present emerging young artists such as Kulundzic Kosta, a painter who focuses his work around issues like faith and mysticism, and our society produces its own myths and heroes. We will also meet Axel Pahlavi, an Iranian painter who prompts the viewer with his harrowing and realistic gloomy pieces, pointing to the dichotomy between religious mythology and the decline of postmodern society. The opening of “Chase the Dragon” was held on January 8 at the Magda Danysz gallery and runs until February 26, 2011. For more information visit: http://www.magda-gallery.com/en/chase-dragon Heloise Battista If you don’t want to miss this exquisite exhibition, rent apartments...
Wallace Berman exhibit in Paris
Until December 24 Frank Elbaz Paris gallery showcases the wonderful work of American artist Wallace Berman, one of the leadn exponents of the Beat art nthe United States durn the tumultuous 60s. Frank Elbaz Gallery, located at 7, rue San Claude, specializes ncontemporary art and has organized the Berman xhibitnits bid to revive nerest nthe graphic work of one of the most iconoclastic artists of his generation. Berman was a legendary figure of the Beat movement. He was known for his hermetic livn na shack and the underground exhibitions he organized, which gave him cult artist status for his generation. Mystical and charismatic, he is said to have been one of the most nluential artists of his time nLos Angeles, home of the Beat movement. Berman gave rise to new aesthetic concepts, experimentn with new materials and technologies. Born nStaten Island, New York. He studied at Chounrd rtSchool, but did not complete his studies and began work on restorn antique furniture. The Beat movement was born nthe post war nthe early 50´s, when the effects of loomn nuclear war changed the way youth viewed human transcendence and made formerly permanent structures seem ephemeral. From beneath this specter of a loomn end, a new way of life and begn to criticize the so-called “American dream.” These hipsters started a resistance to the atomic power wielded by the United States and its imperialist policies nthe world. The Beats sought resistance via art, bohemian lifestyles, traveln and were heavily nluenced by the ideas of existentialist writers like Jean Paul Sartre. This movement generated unique writers like Jack Kerouac, Allen Gnberg and...
Arman exhibit at the Pompidou inParis
Painter, printmaker and sculptor, Arman Pierre Fernandez was born in Nice in 1928 and died in New York in 2005. The son of a Spanish antiques dealer, he is a shining light in the contemporary art world and the Centre Georges Pompidou will feature his work in a retrospective exhibit until January 10, 2011. Arman began painting as a child at his father’s urging, and later studied at the School of Decorative Arts in Nice. In 1947 he met the painters Yves Klein and Claude Pascal, who founded the artistic group “Triangle”, influenced by Eastern philosophy of Zen Buddhism, astrology and the work of Van Gogh. Since that time, he signed his works with only one name, like Van Gogh, and Zorro, he was just Arman. In 1949 he moved to study archeology at the École du Louvre in Paris. During this period his work was influenced by Surrealism. Years later, influenced by Kurt Schwitters and Picasso, he shifted from painting to print-making. In the late fifties, industrial growth led to increases in consumption and waste of modern society, and theartist was charged with reflecting on this reality artist. Arman joined the rising criticism of the industrialization process of the 60´s and transformed his art. His reinterpretation of Duchamp´s ready-made, which transformed the most common object into a work of art, is what integrates the Nouveaux Realistes, whose work can be seen as a direct retort to abstract expressionism and informalism. Following the path opened by Rauschenberg and pop artists, he became an important voice in the modern era, through the intervention of objects that occupy and define it:...
