Photo by Michael Honegger
Your taste of life in Paris and France
ParlerParis.com
Wednesday, May 25, 2011 • Paris, France
Dear Parler Paris Reader,
The sun simply hasn't stopped shining, although rain is predicted for Thursday and Friday. We've all become spoiled by the two solid months of warm sunshine -- sitting out in the cafés, donning our sunglasses, leaving our cares at home...while we soak up the Vitamin D and put color into our cheeks. It's not the Paris we all know and love...cool, gray, rainy, serious. I've started to wonder if I'm in the right city!
I've had visiting friends (who all claim to have brought the good weather with them) and that means there has been more opportunity to take in some of the photographic art scene. The city is overflowing with creative juice, in the museums, in the galleries, on the streets and even in some private apartments.
Saturday evening American Grace Teshima opened her door and all of her Montmartre windows to all who cared to come see the work of 15-Paris-based photographers displayed on her apartment walls in an exhibition titled "L'Esprit du Lieu" (Spirit of Place). It's a regular monthly affair for Chez Grace -- an event for "art-lovers, 'Montmartrois,' out-of-towners and culture-seekers of every stripe" to meet chez Grace to network and enjoy, as she claims, "life/love/art!"
Among the photographers, whose work was all quite outstanding, was Meredith Mullins (a long time acquaintance, http://www.meredithmullins.artspan.com/), with images from India to Senegal, from Paris to Venice, from snowy parks to rain-glistening streets. I found her photos both provocative and sensual. She says of her own work, "This collection of photographs is about traveling outside of time. It’s about images so classical and without boundary that they seem timeless. It’s about images with such a sweep of moments captured in a fraction of a second...that they seem to defy time. It’s about being set free." (To be in Grace's good graces and be on her special mailing list so you can attend her next "affair d'art," email her at grace.teshima@gmail.com)
Earlier in the week, dining at a photographer friend's apartment in the 15th arrondissement, Michael Honegger, I couldn't help but notice the new "Vee Speers" portrait of a young man on his wall. The image was so arresting that I couldn't take my eyes off of it all through dinner. That's classic for the Australian artist's work, who's show at the Galerie ACTE 2) in the 8th just opened titled "Immortal." These are portraits that make you feel more like the subject is actually you, rather than you looking at the subject -- their piercing glares burn holes in your soul and keep you coming back for more as if in a trance. I can't wait to get to the gallery at 41, rue Artois.
TED Prize winning artist, JR, just opened an installation piece from his project "Inside Out" at the Centre Pompidou -- a photo booth were you can share your personal story and image with Inside Out. You may remember him from the installation of "Women are Heroes" along the Seine one year ago. Wearing his uniform dark glasses so as to remain anonymous, he was one of the first to come to my daughter's exhibition in New York, so I had the privilege of meeting this young genius whose Web site claims he "owns the biggest art gallery in the world." It is 'the world,' as the street is his showplace for concepts that rock the world by making us truly ponder our own existence. Learn more about JR's project at insideoutproject.net/ and about the installation at centrepompidou.fr/
So, put down your camera and take to the museums, the galleries, the street and even private apartments to see Paris through the eyes of the photographers who present a new view on our world.
A la prochaine...
Adrian Leeds
Editor, Parler Paris
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P.S. I hope to see many of you at tomorrow night's presentation of "Legal and Compliance Issues for the US Expatriate." If you are not already registered, do so now before it's too late! Scroll down for more information or visit French Property onference.
