“Maison Ancart” by Harold Ancart
Where: Gagosian
When: October 14 – December 20, 2024
Why It’s Worth a Look: For Harold Ancart’s first solo exhibition at Gagosian Paris, the Belgian-born, New York-based artist paints deceivingly conventional elements of the natural world—fields, mountains, and, especially, trees. He sees these landscapes as “alibis for painting” and vehicles through which to experiment. The show culminates in a 25-foot-long panoramic painting of an Alpine mountain vista.
Know Before You Go: Ancart paints in oil stick to create hues that are at once bold yet familiar. His artistry and creative methods pull from a variety of influences, including Post-Impressionism and the School of Paris.
“chronic conditions” by Carmen Neely
Where: Mariane Ibrahim
When: October 11–November 30, 2024
Why It’s Worth a Look: Carmen Neely intertwines brushstrokes with the written word in her work, which she sees as a form of therapeutic release from her chronic health condition. She turned a headline that stuck with her while making the works for this show into an installation on the gallery’s walls: stretching the definition of what it means to look human.
Know Before You Go: The Chicago-based artist’s first solo in Paris is marked by another theme: the color red. The vibrant hue splashed across the canvases brings an energy and passion that suggest an embrace of life despite its uncertainties.
“Zip Zap !” by Sturtevant
Where: Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac
When: October 12–December 21, 2024
Why It’s Worth a Look: During her long and storied career, the artist known simply as Sturtevant was primarily known for reworking classic works of art by the likes of Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, and Andy Warhol. Sturtevant’s unique spin on the originals, which questioned authenticity and originality, earned her a reputation as a master of conceptual and appropriation art.
Know Before You Go: This exhibition marks the 100-year anniversary of Sturtevant’s birth. It commemorates notable works from her career, such as her 1995 rendition of Felix Gonzalez-Torres’s Untitled (Go-Go Dancing Platform) and an early painting from her very first European exhibition in 1966.
“Path Taken” by James Turrell
Where: Almine Rech
When: October 14–December 21, 2024
Why It’s Worth a Look: James Turrell’s 12th exhibition at Almine Rech continues the Los Angeles-based artist’s explorations of light, space, and how the human eye perceives it all. The interplay of his glasswork displays and LED lights creates an ever-evolving visual experience for audiences, revealing new nuances upon every visit.
Know Before You Go: The gallery will screen Passageways, a 1995 film about Turrrell by the French director Carine Asscher. When it first premiered, the 26-minute film served as an introduction to Turrell’s work; today it provides key historical context for his evolution as an artist in the years since.
“The Engine of Beasts” by Emma Webster
Where: Perrotin
When: October 12–November 16, 2024
Why It’s Worth a Look: In her first solo exhibition in Paris, Emma Webster portrays various beasts in her paintings and sculptures. One prominently featured animal—a fox—represents adaptability and dexterity, which could also apply to Webster’s own skills as an artist working across mediums and modalities, including sculpture, painting and virtual reality.
Know Before You Go: In her representations of primordial beasts, Webster employs some modern technological wizardry to give viewers a unique exhibition experience. Her use of VR technology helped her create 3D versions of many of the paintings on display at Perrotin.
“Diffusion” by Marina Perez Simão
Where: Mendes Wood DM
When: October 14–November 23, 2024
Why It’s Worth a Look: The theme and title of Marina Perez Simão’s first solo exhibition in Paris is “diffusion,” or the net movement of any material from one place to another. In her colorful and lively paintings, Perez Simão invites audiences to experience an expansive flow of light, color, and rhythm that moves from one work to the next. They may also serve as catalysts for the diffusion of emotion and imagination among viewers.
Know Before You Go: Much of the inspiration for these works comes from the Brazilian artist’s experience living and studying art in Paris 20 years ago. She considers the paintings “landscapes” in the sense that they evoke a sense of a place, even if not necessarily representing one.
“Blue Days Dust” by Alicja Kwade
Where: Mennour
When: September 7–November 5, 2024
Why It’s Worth a Look: Alicja Kwade’s sculptures find beauty in the interplay between natural forms and human imperfections. In “Blue Days Dust,” the artist brings together everyday objects with earthly materials—stone, wood, metals—to create a hybrid of human and natural worlds that invites viewers to consider the matter of our bodies, our social spheres and the physical realm.
Know Before You Go: In Kwade’s own words: “This exhibition is to be seen in the perspective of our existence as a physical thing for a limited period of time on this planet, and what it means to be or not matter, to be or not solid.”
“Joyful Sorrow” by Chris Ofili
Where: David Zwirner
When: October 14–November 30, 2024
Why It’s Worth a Look: Chris Ofili’s first solo show in Paris continues the artist’s long-standing fascination with Shakespeare’s Othello. The series of paintings on view at David Zwirner, “Othello-Shroud,” are part of a two-gallery presentation with Victoria Miro in Venice, which will show Ofili’s “Othello-Reflection” series from October 26 to December 14.
Know Before You Go: The Paris exhibition will inaugurate the second-floor gallery of Zwirner’s Paris location.
“Anima” by Rashid Johnson
Where: Hauser & Wirth
When: October 14–December 21, 2024
Why It’s Worth a Look: The show’s title stems from Rashid Johnson’s long-standing fascination with animism, the belief that all beings and objects have souls. The multifaceted artist charges the paintings, sculptures, and film in this show with a spirit of both introspection and expansion, seeking to connect to a realm beyond our own.
Know Before You Go: The show features two new painting series, the “Soul Paintings” and “God Paintings,” as well as two new series of bronze sculptures and Johnson’s latest film, Sanguine.
“envelopper la Terre” by Giuseppe Penone
Where: Marian Goodman Gallery
When: October 16–December 21, 2024
Why It’s Worth a Look: Italian sculptor Giuseppe Penone is primarily known for his large “living sculptures” of trees and other naturally occurring phenomena, which blur the space between artist and surface. At Marian Goodman, the artist displays 17 sculptures which he made by clasping terracotta fragments, with ochre and yellow pigments, in his hands—a process he describes as “fossilizing a gesture.”
Know Before You Go: Penone first rose to prominence in the 1960s as a central figure in Italy’s Arte Povera movement. In this era of drastic upheaval, honored in a Bourse de Commerce show on view concurrently in Paris, artists rejected traditional practices in favor of revolutionary, political works that critiqued the actions of governments and institutions.
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