Wet Paint Goes To Paris: Inside Rick Owens's Concrete Palace, The Grand Palais, And More!

(MENAFN- USA Art News) This edition of Artnet News's“Wet Paint” column covers a trip to Paris Internationale and other art events in Paris, with appearances by figures such as Jeff Koons, Martin Rev, Karsten Greve, Eden Tinto Collins, Jeff Magid, Casey Spooner, and Michèle Lamy.

The column begins by referencing Marie Antoinette's extravagant lifestyle and nickname,“Madame Déficit,” before shifting to the author's observations on attending Art Basel Paris amid widespread French protests described by some as the largest uprising since May '68. Half a million people reportedly marched across France, protesting the cost of living and the wealth gap, with calls to“mettre fin à l'époque contemporaine.”

On a Sunday evening, the author traveled to JFK for a 9:15 p.m. flight. At the gate, Bill Powers of Half Gallery and his director, Erin Goldberger, were present, as was Andrew Kreps on a phone call. Jeff Koons and his wife, Justine, were seen emerging from the Air France lounge. The author noted that Koons, known for installing a gilded sculpture of Michael Jackson at Versailles, was seated in business class, not first class. The author stayed in an apartment in Bastille, above a Free store whose windows had been smashed, with plywood covering the entrance.

At Paris Internationale's VIP day, a long line formed at the café, which a stairwell sign, misspelled as“Only TOILET AVAILABLE is in the CAFETARIA,” explained was due to it being the only available restroom. Inside, Giampaolo Bianconi, associate curator of modern and contemporary art at the Art Institute of Chicago, conversed with Cornelia Grassi of London's Greengrassi, a fair selection committee member. Grassi's booth featured Gretchen Faust's Shroud 2 (Stop), a large floor piece made from camouflage fabric.

Mexico City's Gaga presented a small Maggie Lee collage, with text that read“How to be free” and“Champagne before lunch? Come now, what will people think?” At Champ Lacombe, Danny Báez, an independent curator and cofounder of the Caribbean art fair MECA, spoke with Lucy Chadwick, both alums of Gavin Brown's Enterprise. Chadwick was congratulated for her Charles Atlas show at the gallery's London space during Frieze. They discussed the current mood at the fair, and Chadwick recommended Lucy Beech's video Storm, featuring five hours of artificial North Sea waves eroding a sand dune, displayed alongside photographs of vulture wings.

Chadwick inquired if the author planned to visit Dalad's, a pop-up dining experience with stainless-steel fishing boats designed by Rirkrit Tiravanija, where she intended to have dinner with Arthur Jafa on a Thursday. The author later met Reilly Davidson outside a PMU, a French horse-betting-bar-slash-smoke-shop, where attempts to buy nicotine pouches were unsuccessful as they are banned in France. They then headed to Chris Sharp's Post-Fair in the Marais, located next to Marian Goodman's Paris space, utilizing about 60 percent of the building. The author photographed Richard Rezac's work at Sharp's booth and shared orange wine with Stéphane Timonier, whose Galerie Timonier is relocating from New York to Paris.

At Lafayette Anticipations, openings for Yu Nishimura, Mungo Thomson, and Hélène Fauquet were held. Guillaume Houzé, heir to Galeries Lafayette and founder of the institution, led tours of the Nishimura exhibition. Brendan Dugan (the author's former boss) and Siniša Mackovic of Karma recounted biking through protests to reach their hotel before a Mungo dinner they were attending. The author was bound for Rick Owens's house, noting Dugan's surprise consumption of ginger ale.

Before visiting Rick Owens's for dinner, the author stopped at Carpenters for his furniture show. The gallery, which sprays a custom scent, had visitors dressed in black. Black Sprinter vans transported guests to the compound Owens shares with his wife, designer Michèle Lamy. Fellow passengers included Henriette Huldisch, chief curator at the Walker Art Center, Patrick Armstrong, director at Trautwein Herleth, and Marc Leschelier, a French artist and architect whose work Owens and Lamy collect.

Source: Artnet News

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