December 2021
It is rather ludicrous to write about art in Paris since the city is filled with art on every street corner, every building and every park. There is also great street art if you look around. There really are too many to even begin to consider writing about, but here are a few pieces that caught my eye.
Musée de la Sculpture en Plein Air
Reinout d’Haese (Belgium), ‘Melmouth’, 1966, in Musée de la Sculpture en Plein Air.
This fascinating guy can be found in the Musée de la Sculpture en Plein Air. This little outdoor space opened in 1980 in the Square Tino Rossi and features artists from all over the world. It is perfect to just stroll, enjoy the art, enjoy the Seine and get some fresh air. The park can be found on the Quai Saint-Bernard between the Pont de Sully and the Pont d’Austerlitz.
Rue Chapon
Les Spécialistes
“J.B. & S.B. Specialists” are the artists Julien Berthier and Simon Boudvin
This piece actually has its own Wikipedia Page (in French). The door, the address, and the plaque were all installed in about 30 minutes on a Saturday morning in 2006. It even has its own fake address “1 Bis.” (“Bis,” means repeat or twice, and designates addresses for divided lots, like 1B or 1 1/2).
Like so many other facades in the world, it is periodically tagged forcing the city of Paris to clean it.
La Danse de la fontaine émergente
La Danse de la Fontaine Emergente
La Danse de la fontaine émergente is a (presently non-working) fountain on Place Augusta-Holmes on rue Paul Klée,. Designed by French-Chinese sculptor Chen Zhen, who died in 2000, it was completed by his wife Xu Min in 2008.
La Danse de la fontaine émergente
The fountain, designed to resemble a dragon, is constructed of stainless steel, glass and plastic, the dragon’s transparent skin is meant to show the water flowing inside.
Le Passe-Muraille Sculpture
Writer Marcel Ayme lived in the Montmartre area of Paris and in the 1980s the Place Marcel Ayme was dedicated to the author.
The sculpture is based on a story by Marcel Ayme. A man named Dutilleul was a lowly civil servant from Montmartre who discovers he can walk through walls. At first he uses it against co-workers that had humiliated him, but eventually moves on to burgling , leaving notes signed, “Garou-Garou” — it does not translate well “Garou” is part of the French word for werewolf. English translations of the story have him calling himself either “Wolfy,” or “The Lone Wolf”. But to continue… Dutilleul gets caught and thrown in La Santé prison, where, of course he escapes. He even went to a cafe had lunch and then sent the bill to the warden. In the end he has an affair with a married woman. You can guess the next, the husband comes home, Dutilleul flees through the wall, and at that very moment looses his magical powers to be forever stuck in the wall.
Paris Sewers
One can take a tour of Paris’ sewer system, and it is quite informative and worth the time. If you are observant you will find this guy around a corner and down a hall.
This fellow is by artist Blek le Rat who started using stencils in his Paris street art in the 1980’s. He was inspired by the stenciling technique used by Italy’s fascist propaganda machine during World War II. Blek le Rat started a whole new movement in street art with the use of stencils.
Welcoming Hands at the Jardin des Tuileries
A series of intertwined hands lay on five granite stones in the Tuilleries at the end of the park near the Place de Concorde. They vary in size from 20 to 30 inches wide and high and are the work of Louise Josephine Bourgeois.
I could find nothing about this piece at the corner of Rue Victor Considerant and Rue Victor Schoelcher. However, it appears to be a popular spot to be creative as I have found photos of other interesting pieces of street art that have graced this wall before.
So easy to miss, there are nearly 1000 silhouettes, inspired by the many professions of the Opéra national de Paris, on the walls of the metro station that bears its name.
Swimmers and dancers appear above the street signs of Paris randomly all over town
Place Michel Debre
This interesting piece is by Cesar Baldaccini and sits on a traffic corner in the 6th Arrondissement. César was at the forefront of the Nouveau Réalisme movement with his radical compressions and fantastic representations of animals and insects
He was obviously very proud of it, as he had a similar piece placed on his gravesite in Montparnasse Cemetery.
This little music box at L’Olympia hall (28 Boulevard des Capucines) actually works and honors famous French singer/songwriter Georges Brassens. Music boxes like this, installed by Atomik Nation, can be found all over town.
