If Youre Looking for an Excuse to Visit Paris, FIAC Is Back. And Theres a Lot of Art to Love in the South of France, Too – artnet News

Yes, Paris is for art lovers, and its not hard to see whyin the City of Light, anything and everything can be elevated to an art form, from the Arc de Triomphe to a loaf of bread.

Of course, the capital is hardly the only place in France with an art scene. From the gritty port city of Marseille to the countryside idyll of Aix to the ever-splashy Cte dAzur, Provence has long been a magnet for creatives of all stripes.

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Pariss Grand Palais phmre. Patrick Tourneboeuf.

See and Do: After going online-only last year, Pariss Foire Internationale dArt Contemporain (FIAC) is back IRL with 160 Modern art, contemporary art, and design galleries from 25 countries participating in its 47th edition (from October 2124, 2021).

The fair will occupy the Grand Palais phmre and the Galerie Eiffel, sustainably designed by architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte to mimic their namesake monuments on the Champ-de-Mars. (The temporary structures are hosting all of the exhibitions, fashion shows, and sporting events that would normally be held in the glass-roofed Grand Palais Nave, which is closed for renovations until the 2024 Olympic Games.)

Fifty additional galleries will present exclusive digital exhibitions via FIACs online viewing rooms. And October 10 will see the return of Gallery Night, with 100 art spaces across Paris open late (until 10 p.m.). Meanwhile, FIAC Hors les Murs will bring art outdoors and across the city, from site-specific installations at the Jardin des Tuileries to Alexander Calders monumental sculpture Flying Dragon (1975) on the Place Vendme.

Urs Fischer, Untitled, 2011 (detail) in the Rotonde of Pariss Bourse de Commerce, the new museum of the Pinault collection. Urs Fischer. Courtesy Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich.Photo: Stefan Altenburger.

Beyond the fair, following a three-year restoration led by Japanese architect Tadao Ando, the ca.-1889 Bourse de Commerce (Pariss former stock exchange) reopened this spring as a museum with 10 galleries to house Franois Pinaults 10,000-work-strong collection of contemporary art. The inaugural show, Ouverture, contains nearly 200 pieces, from a group of never-before-shown works by the elusive David Hammons to a quasi-replica of Giambolognas Renaissance statue The Abduction of the Sabine Women, which the Swiss artist Urs Fischer sculpted in wax. Doubling as a candle, it melts in dialogue with the 19th-century iconography painted on the walls of the glass-domed Rotonde (until December 21, 2021).

Inside Galleria Continua Pariss Truc a faire, curated by JR. Photo: Sara De Santis. Courtesy of the artists and gallery.

The Marais recently welcomed a couple of fun Italian imports, including the Kengo Kuma-designedMassimo De Carlo Pice Unique, which shows just one artwork at a timecurrently from the American multimedia artist Doug Aitken (until October 17, 2021). Situated in a former leather wholesaler,Galleria Continua is running its inaugural, JR-curated showTruc Faireuntil October 31, 2021, featuring works by the likes of Anish Kapoor and Ai Weiwei displayed alongside books and groceries on hundreds of shelves in a presentation that is, as the French photographer and street artist put it, halfway between a cathedral and a supermarket.

Lvy Gorvy also recently set up in the Marais, tapping Luis Laplace to restore a space originally designed by Jean Nouvel. From October 7 until November 13, 2021, the gallery is showing the third chapter in its four-city exhibition, Mickalene Thomas: Beyond the Pleasure Principle. It is premiering a series of the artists large-scale Resist paintings, which feature silk-screened images and archival photos focused on Black American Civil Rights activism from the 1960s to the present.

Mickalene Thomas, Jet Blue #25, 2021(detail). Mickalene Thomas / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Nearby, Lafayette Anticipations Fondation des Galeries Lafayette gave Martin Margiela carte blanche for Martin Margielanot as a designer, but as an artist (October 20, 2021January 2, 2022). The legendary and legendarily enigmatic fashion figure designed the exhibition as a total artwork that visitors enter through the emergency exit, with disappearance and transformation as themes. More than 40 of his multimedia works are on public display for the first time.

Avenue Matignon is becoming something of an art hub in the 8th arrondissement. Home to the expanding headquarters ofChristies, it recently welcomed new locations from Marais galleriesAlmine Rech andEmmanuel Perrotin. And it is here that LondonsWhite Cube has its Paris office, which is hosting a show featuring Georg Baselitz, Tracey Emin, and Takis during FIAC (October 18November 12, 2021).

Two influential galleries focused on African contemporary art are also moving in. The Abidjan- and Dakar-basedLa Galerie Cecile Fakhoury will open its first space outside the African continent at 29 Avenue Matignon later this month, showing new works by Senegalese painter Kassou Seydou and Ivorian American mixed-media artist Ouattara Watts (who worked closely with Jean-Michel Basquiat), among others.

Mariane Ibrahim has a new gallery on Pariss Avenue Matignon. Courtesy of Mariane Ibrahim Gallery.

Star Chicago art dealerMariane Ibrahimwho lived in France before moving to the U.S. in 2010 and has championed Black artists from across the African diaspora, from the Ghanaian market star Amoako Boafo to the American photographer Ayana V. Jacksonis unveilingher first international outpost in a three-level Haussmann building at number 18. The first exhibition, Jai Deux Amours, pays homage to the namesake Josephine Baker song, with new works by the gallerys roster of multicultural artists (until October 13, 2021).

Eat and Drink: Food lovers have been flocking toForest, the new restaurant at the Muse dArt Moderne, where the young Parisian chef Julien Sebbag serves up a menu that is an artful and eco-conscious ode to plant life along with cocktails inspired by the elements. After spending the summer on the terrace overlooking the Eiffel Tower, the restaurant has moved into a minimalist indoor-outdoor space.

Rose Chalalai Singh, chef-owner of the fashion worlds favorite Thai restaurant in Paris, Ya Lama, recently opened her tiny Rose Kitchen at Le Marche des Enfants Rouges, the citys oldest covered market, in the Marais. With a menu of Thai comfort foods featuring recipes passed down from her grandmother, it is already a go-to spot for the art and style sets, hosting dinners for everyone from Chanel to Gagosian.

Stay: Leave it to LVMH to open the most stylish new hotel in town. Designed by the architects Peter Marino and Edouard Franois with 72 rooms and suites, not to mention its Dior Spa,Cheval Blanc Paris has the vibe of a private residenceone that just happens to be ideally situated between the Marais, le de la Cit, and the Louvre. Between the Vik Muniz canvases and the staircase featuring woven metal crafted by Sophie Mallebranche, art is a central part of its appeal.

The pool inside the new Cheval Blanc Paris has mosaics handcrafted by Michael Mayer and a virtual Oyoram fresco. Alexandre Tabaste.

Worth a quick detour: Airelles Chteau de Versailles, Le Grand Contrle recently opened as the first and only hotel within the Palace of Versailles grounds. Built ca. 1681 by Jules Hardouin-Mansartthe preferred architect of Louis XIVto host European ambassadors and artists, the site was restored to its original splendor over the course of four years. Expect 14 old-meets-new rooms and suites with Baroque art and objets, plus exclusive access to the palace, the Trianon Domain, and the Orangery gardens. Airelles also has a new hotel in Saint-Tropez, Chateau de la Messardire.

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Frank Gehrys stainless-steel Luma Arles tower was inspired by the regions rock clusters and Van Goghs Starry Night. Iwan Baan for LUMA Arles, 2021.

See and Do: After more than a dozen years in development, June saw the launch ofLuma Arles, a 27-acre campus devoted to creativity and contemporary art in the ancient Roman city of Arles, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its centerpiece is a twisting, 12-level tower that Frank Gehry designed from 11,000 gleaming, stainless steel panels inspired by the regions rock clusters as well as Van Goghs Starry Night. Selldorf Architects turned four former train factories into performance spaces to accompany the galleries inside, which host commissions by artists Etel Adnan, lafur Elasson, and Rirkrit Tiravanija, while Koo Jeong A created a glow-in-the-dark skatepark outside. All of this is the brainchild of Swiss mega-collector and philanthropist Maja Hoffmann, with Tom Eccles, Philippe Parreno, and Hans Ulrich Obrist as advisors.

Since it opened ca. 2013 along the seaport in Marseilles, with an exhibition space designed by Roland Carta and Rudy Ricciotti and another in the historic Fort Saint-Jean, the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations, orMucem, helped bring a new wave of interest to the gritty capital of Provence. Its collections span all things Mediterranean, from Neolithic artifacts to contemporary art. The latest exhibition, The grand Meze, focuses on the food (until December 31, 2023).

The new Richard Rogers Drawing Gallery appears to float above the vineyards at Chteau la Coste, in Provence. Photo: Stphane Aboudaram | We Are Content(s).

Halfway between Aix en Provence and the Luberon Regional Nature Park, youll find Chteau La Coste, a biodynamic vineyard that has grown into a destination for site-specific art and architecture. Over the past decade, Louise Bourgeois, Renzo Piano, Hiroshi Sugimoto, and others have been invited to choose a part of the landscape that speaks to them and create a work to live there. This year, the Chteau unveiled the Richard Rogers Drawing Gallery, cantilevering off a hillside above the ancient Roman ruin of La Quille. On view there now are abstract works by the Korean artist Park Seo-Bo (until November 15, 2021). Next year will see the opening of an Oscar Niemeyer pavilion.

In the Cte DAzur, the late, great Eileen Grays seasideVilla E-1027 just reopened to the public after a 5.5 million ($6.4 million) restoration spearheaded by the Association Cap Moderne, a local nonprofit that also saved Le Corbusiers nearby Cabanon. The multidisciplinary Gray designed the airy villa, inside and out, to foster a sense of well-being; built between 1926 and 1929 with her companion and fellow architect Jean Badovici, it had since fallen into disrepair, in part due to wear and tear from the Mediterranean climate. Artisans from six countries repaired and recreated every aspect of the Modernist masterpiecefrom the concrete structure to the nickel-plated steel writing table to the abstract natural-fiber rugsusing the Irish designers original methods and materials; a few of its Le Corbusier murals were also restored.

Eileen Grays Villa E-1027, newly restored on the Cote dAzur. Photo: Manuel Bougot.

The Paris-based Fondation Carmignac has turned the tiny, protected Ile de Porquerollesthe setting for Jean-Luc Godards French New Wave classic, Pierrot le Fouinto a contemplative destination for contemporary art. After a 15-minute ferry ride from the mainland, visitors are greeted with an herbal tea made from local flora and asked to remove their shoes before exploring the Villa Carmignac and its sculpture gardens, which are hosting The Imaginary Sea until October 17, 2021. Partly inspired by the villas architecture, with its water-filled ceiling, the exhibition features aquatic works such as Bruce Naumans One Hundred Fish Fountain and a new, Neptune-like installation by Miquel Barcel; afterwards, youre invited to wade barefoot into the actual sea.

Eat and Drink: The renowned French chef Hlne Darroze just took over the kitchens at Chteau La Coste and its on-site hotel, with its 28 villa suites. Set in a terraced, glass-walled pavilion that seems to levitate above a mirror basin with a Louise Bourgeois sculpture of an embracing couple suspended from the ceiling, her new restaurantHlne Darroze at Villa La Costefocuses on fruits and vegetables from the region, with a wine list featuring the estates own organic varietals.

Make time to visit Menton, the pearl of the French Riviera, even if only to dine at Italian-Argentine chef Mauro ColagrecosMirazur. The biodynamic restaurant holds three Michelin stars, a Michelin Green star, and the number one spot on the Worlds 50 Best Restaurants list. Its new CosmoCuisine menu follows the lunar phases: Depending on the day, youll be immersed in one of the four Mirazur UniversesRoot, Leaf, Flower, or Fruitfeaturing plant-focused dishes that largely pluck from the kitchen gardens.

Chef Mauro Colagrecos Carrot dish, part of his Root menu at Mirazur, in Menton. Matteo Carrasale 2021.

Colagreco has a new restaurant, Ceto, that takes inspiration from the sea, which it overlooks from the top floor of the soon-to-openMaybourne Riviera. Built on a rocky peninsula above Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, the Jean-Michel Wilmotte-designed hotelfrom the London-based group behind Claridges and The Connaughtwill have specially commissioned art, objects, and furnishings from local artists and makers alongside work by everyone from JR to Le Corbusier and Gray.

Stay: The Luma Foundations Maja Hoffmann brought the Cuban American artist and sculptor Jorge Pardo to Arles, where he turned a historic htel particulier intoLArlatanwhich is basically a bookable work of art. Pardo designed each of its 34 rooms with handcrafted mosaic-tile floors and walls (at least in the bathrooms) as well as doors that double as canvases for his figurative paintings. Almost all of the furnishings and fixtures were made by hand in his studio.

The family-run, art-filled Hotel Lou Pinet recently opened with sunny 1960s vibes in Saint-Tropez courtesy of the Paris-based architect and interior designer Charles Zana. Expect 34 bright, spacious rooms and suites with abstract tapestry headboards and bespoke ceramic lamps, each with its own private garden and outdoor lounge.

A suite at Hotel Lou Pinet, recently opened in St. Tropez. Courtesy of the hotel.

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If Youre Looking for an Excuse to Visit Paris, FIAC Is Back. And Theres a Lot of Art to Love in the South of France, Too - artnet News