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ARMAN at Pompidou Centre

                                                             Text by Aran Cravey

Never one to fear extravagance, Arman lived his life like he made his art, with excess. This month the Pompidou presents nearly 120 of the artist’s works, in the first major retrospective since his death.

A founding member of the post-war, Nouveau Réaliste movement, Arman along with artist Yves Klein and theorist Pierre Restany, among others, endeavored to create a new perspective on their increasingly commercialized, consumer society. While Klein approached this objective through the void, Arman embraced material excess, a characteristic that shaped the span of his extensive career.  

Likewise, Arman developed expensive tastes in his personal life as well, supporting his lavish lifestyle with, what many collectors and dealers considered to be, an overproduction of his work… Little wonder, therefore, why Arman is noted to have been a Damien Hirst sympathizer.

Image: Full Up: Accumulation of refuse in sardine can, 1960, Arman; Courtesy of the Arman Studio.

Festival America 2010

Text Brendan Seibel   Vincennes will become an epicenter for literature. From tomorrow until Sunday 26th September more than sixty North American authors are convening to celebrate and discuss the world of letters, and the letters which define the world. Appearances, readings, round-tables and debates will be spread throughout the city in the cozy confines of bookshops and the grand halls of the Mairie.  Complimented with a showcasing of films written by or based on works by those appearing as well as several musical events, this year's Festival America is sure to satisfy. 

The festival's website has a complete schedule.

Even spread over four days there's simply too many great events. Each participant will make multiple appearances and here's our list of the names to look for:

Guillermo Arriaga:  Arriaga is possibly the best known Mexican writer alive. Raised in the violent streets of Mexico City he brought beauty and authenticity to the scripts for Amores Perros, 21 Grams and Babel.

Gil Adamson:  This Toronto native imbues her work with the bygone mystery of western wilderness. Her melancholic settings are haunted by ghosts both living and dead, crafted by a keen eye for the oddities in everyone and a fascination with The X-Files.

La Cave des Papilles

Text by Omid Tavallai & Images by Matthew Rose

The story has almost become a cliché in what's hot and exciting in Paris: A young upstart with no formal training. Someone who bailed on a corporate career to pursue an unrelated passion. A DIY ethos guiding rebellion against the well-rooted establishment.

This is not the story at La Cave des Papilles just off Marché Daguerre in the 14th.

Meet Florian - one of the three members of a tightly knit crew ("We work like a family," he says) that runs La Cave des Papilles. He knows his wines. He's been in the field for fifteen years, since finishing hotelier school and specializing in the subject. His biggest career shift was leaving his post as sommelier to Michelin-starred chefs… only to delve further into his tipple of passion as a caviste.

Of course, as the story often goes, he knows all of his producers personally. But we're not talking about a handful of obscure, craft wines. La Cave des Papilles stocks 900 to 1000 different wines at any given time. 80% of which are vins naturels, "natural wines."

"It's in the same realm as bio (organic) wine, but even more purist. As far as organic wines go, the organic part only applies to how the grapes are grown," Florian says. "Natural wines are more concerned with keeping the whole process natural."

"Our mission is to be the ambassadors of natural wines in Paris."

Guns n' Roses Play Paris and forthcoming Rock Concerts

Text: Aran Cravey

Photo: Gn'R France

At 1:05 am, this past Tuesday (September 14, 2010), Axl Rose stepped off the Bercy stage, after a final encore performance of “Paradise City” and a remarkably sincere ‘thanks and merci’ to the city of Paris.

Axl Rose, the lead vocalist, frontman and soul proprietor of the legendary rock band’s name Guns n’ Roses, played for a packed house at the Bercy on Monday night. Considering the band’s nearly hour and half delay, the evening’s crowd was astonishingly patient. Once things did get rolling, however, they were given a two and half hour set, half of which was new material from their most recent album, Chinese Democracy released in 2008.

At 48 years old, Rose showed that he was every bit the rockstar, bringing his remarkable vocal talents and take-it or leave-it charisma to the stage, while forgoing the spandex and kilt attire of his early concerts.

Gone are the capricious days of hotel room ransacks and panty-tossing groupies. This is not the same Guns n’ Roses, both in the literal and figurative sense. Rose remains the only original member of the band, having parted ways with former lead guitarist Slash, bass guitarist Duff McKagan and rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin in the 90’s. The rebellious band-against the world mentality that had previously fueled their lyrics and music can only be played out for so long.

MuseoGames at Musée des Arts et Métiers

Text Brendan Seibel  Video games were the vanguard of our computer age. Once strictly the stricken domain of asthmatics and anemics they have burst from basements and arcades into popular culture, infecting movies and music along the way. As geeks celebrate the 25th anniversary of Mario, Luigi, The Princess and Koopa Troopas, Musée des Arts et Métiers hosts MuseoGames.

Spanning Pong to today's fully rendered wonders the curators have cast a wide net. Visitors can divide their time by riding the thin line between education and entertainment. Audio stations and flatscreens collect words of wisdom from a long lineage of programmers, writers and other contributors to the world of games.

Twenty-four consoles dominate the center of the hall, where dinosaurs like Missile Command join Arkanoid, Sonic the Hedgehog, Metal Slug, Goldeneye and today's hot properties like Top Spin. Tucked away in the rear, respecting the marginalized hovels of yesteryear, is a mini-arcade with eight games. As the 3D trend once again rears its ugly head spending a little time with Sega's Hologram Time Traveler reminds you that this too shall pass.

Unexpected Grace - Mohammed Bourouissa at Kamel Mennour

Text Aran Cravey  17^th century Dutch still life painting and 20^th century cell phone snapshots are two forms of media that I’ve never conventionally considered as aesthetically linked. Nor has daily life at a French penitentiary been a subject in which I found pathos or vulnerability.

However, convention and expectation yield no limiting forces in the work of Mohammed Bourouissa, but rather, serve as ideological paradigms from which to explore societal realities and cultural stereotypes.

Born in Algeria and presently residing in Paris, Bourouissa has gained the attention of the contemporary art world with his arresting photographs of banlieue life that defy conventional clichés with their poignant beauty.

“Temps mort”, his new exhibition at Galerie Kamel Mennour re-emphasizes Bourouissa’s talent for creating evocative and elegant images, while maintaining a firm loyalty to the truth.

FACE Association in La Courneuve

Text Brendan Seibel   A far-reaching social experiment threading together disparate populations is set to commence. Prisoners will join their wardens, expectant mothers will join school children, rappers will join poets, all in an effort to examine how environmental conditions reflect people's expression.

La Courneuve is the epicenter of this upheaval against societal constraints. This northern Parisian suburb, already tarnished by the legacy of 60's immigrant exile and post-industrial depression, has recently suffered another blow. Footage of police dragging pregnant women from the condemned housing project “Balzac” were widely circulated, bringing simmering racial tensions and segregation to a public boiling point. Impoverished ghetto, festering drug-den, land of the lost - stereotypes that Monte Laster hopes to change.

Laster, himself an immigrant from Texas, has dedicated a quarter of his life to La Courneuve. The discovery of a crumbling, centuries-old mill led to a painstaking reconstruction. Moulin Fayvon became his home and gave birth to the arts association FACE French/American Creative Exchange.  The project's centerpiece is the transcendence of the individual above the proscribed traps of generalization.

Hidden behind stone walls and nestled in a lovingly tended garden FACE could remain a bucolic utopia removed from its bleak surroundings. However, Laster has rejected privileged isolation to work with and through the community, marrying art, advocacy and sociological theory. The displaced residents of disappearing tower blocks, the maligned immigrants, the marginalized denizens of a stigmatized city are the very root of creation. Actions as diverse as cross-cultural potlucks, nature walks through demolition zones and fusions of Baroque choirs to hip-hop all draw inspiration from the life of the city.

'L'Universe d'Hergé' an auction of all things Tintin at Hotel Marcel Dassault

Text Elliot Elam  

'L'Universe d'Hergé.', an auction of all things Tintin at Hotel Marcel Dassault on the 9th October 2010

Over a London pint, I was thinking out loud to a friend, trying to find a way to describe Hergé.

At first, I tried a comparison with The Beatles; Hergé was certainly as definitive, as hugely popular, and as experimental in Bande Dessinée as The Beatles were in pop, I argued. Sipping his own pint, my friend suggested Michael Jackson; 'there's that childlike otherworld-liness and naivety to Hergé', he said. 'It fuels his genius. And it can get him into trouble, too'.

Both of us nodded, quietly, wondering if there really was any comparison to be had but enjoying our blurry attempts at cultural analysis. One thing that was certain, however, was that 'The Adventures of Tintin' really were some of our all-time favourite stories. Talking more and settling comfortably into a groove, we discussed the supporting characters, the 'ligne claire' style, the 'ripping yarn' plots and how 'The Calculus Affair' is probably the best of the series. It soon became clear that these books are so ingrained in our childhood memories that they could qualify as some kind of 'first love'.

Art Appetite! Biennale de Belleville and Vernissage Buffet

Text Aran Cravey   Last week’s sampler of art events and gallery openings were just the amuse-bouche for what promises to be a contemporary feast for the artistic appetite. The week starts out strong with a delectable photographic medley at Maison Européenne de la Photographie. The six different exhibitions opening on the 7^th of September present works by a spectrum of artists, ranging from the disquieting portraits of Koos Breukel to the seductive glamour of Karl Lagerfeld.

Kamel Mennour offers an alternate, though equally enticing exhibition of works by young photographer Mohamed Bourouissa. The Algerian born artist, who lives and works in Paris has gained much attention for his photographic depictions of banlieue life that explore urban clichés, while capturing a classical poignancy, evoking the historically referential images of Jeff Wall.

Marché Saint-Quentin

Text Brendan Seibel  Today it's hard to imagine Les Halles as anything other than an architectural disgrace. Centuries ago it was the "Belly of Paris", but now teems with a distinctly different commerce. The tradition of visiting the neighborhood grocer, seeking advice from the opinionated fromager, the friendly conversations between people brought together by exchange, buckles under the weight of every new Monoprix.

Marchés remain entrenched against the onslaught of commercial evolution. While most manifestations of this bygone era live on as open-air weekend gatherings only a few covered markets survive. The oldest is Marché des Enfants Rouges (dating from the 17th century) tucked away behind the trendy rue de Bretagne in the 3rd. They crop up suddenly, ghosts of a dying age, like the strikingly squat Marché Saint-Quentin on frenetic Boulevard Magenta.