Last week I took a mental vacation in Potterville. Now that I have exhausted the final magical moment of Potter's saga, I'm back to my own Never Never Land in cyberspace.
My vacation in France completely indulged all my five senses, experiences that cannot be completely captured by a snapshot or a souvenir.
Voir: The natural grace of the River Seine, the grand public squares and monuments and the charm of the prewar residential buildings with elaborate railings and onings all invite one to slow down one's pace and set one's imagination free. Having visited the major tourist attractions in my previous visits, this summer I had a chance to really make acquaintance with Paris.
Apart from meandering around Jardin du Luxembourg, getting a glimpse of the concert hall in La Cité and discovering the little waterfalls in Parc des Buttes Chaumont, I saw two exceptional exhibitions: the retrospective of Pierre et Gilles at Jeu de Paume and Airs de Paris at Pomidou Centre.
Camp is an accurate but probably not adequate description of the works by this painter/photographer couple. Their detailed, highly processed and staged images are not just eye candy. Many of them are overt political statement, as you can see above. Others are simply disturbing, violent but never overtly gruesome.
The title Airs de Paris is a tribute to Marcel Duchamp's installation of the same title first show in Paris. The installation is a collection of tiny black beads suspended from the ceiling, creating a nonchalant and poetic touch. This exhibition includes select artists reponses to modern Paris and the modern world. One of the most memorable installations was by Louise Bourgeois with the same light touches of Duchamp.
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