A friend showed me this picture the other day, taken during a walk around Angers. To say I was thrilled would have been an understatement. I had not yet seen any good street art for the past three months of my stay, and to see this yarn bomb sprout up - as well as being such a brash display of it in the city park, I immediately had to go check it out for myself.
The bike ride was faster than normally, happy I'd finally see some new yarn since seeing Olek's in Chelsea during January. Unfortunately, the fears I expressed to my friend, and the reason for my haste, had already been realized. The park was its normal, finely-manicured self - no urban, Liberace lion to be found. The ride back, with wind in my face and mounting thoughts about the governing French culture in my head, was a bit more difficult. I questioned my thoughts and wondered if my friend had only just now uploaded photos taken awhile back, allowing the lion its proper lifespan of short-lived street art. No, she had taken the picture within only the past three hours.
Unsurprisingly, I wasn't mad. To get mad about the removal of street art, ephemerality being one component of its core, would be pointless - even more so to write about it. However, it did solidify some thoughts I had about Paris, and the idea of culture in France, since my stay here. Paris, and always France with it, has been living in the past when it comes to art.
To be sure, this isn't a terrible thing at all - it's what we love and come to Paris for, and there's still much to learn between Rousseau and Redon. Even more, artists like JR, Invader, and Xavier Veilhan (artists who could be considered pioneers of the much-blogged about New Aesthetic), churn out great art for the world to consume.
But, that's just it - it's the world consuming France, with mostly China being the primary recipient (Chateau Latour, the fabled Bordeaux vinyard, even left the historic en primeur system of selling wine futures, in order to more easily cater to the growing Chinese middle-class - effectively cutting out the middle man). This is true for many cultural sectors of post-developed nations, their artists and other cultural products being primarily admired and bought by members of the BRIC bloc. A talk with Liam Porisse at the opening of his joint show with his brother Julien at BLAST gallery on Rue Matignon - one of the only forward-thinking galleries on the historical art street, proves this point. Having studios in both Sao Paulo and Paris, M. Porisse quickly added in the conversation that so much more money is being used to buy, and more importantly promote, new,emerging art in Brasil. Also, as it stands, Singapore is poised to overtake France in amount of art bought this year, with China leading all countries since 2008.
This should come as no surprise. With exigeant austerity measures all over Europe and down grades landing on many western counties, it's difficult for anyone under such pressures to promote their cultural institutions. Still, it is the mindset of many in these nations that is the bane for their present day depreciation.
The quick removal of the yarn-covered lion draws many parallels to French denunciation of artists in the past, à la Salon des Réfuses, or the ridicule of Millet - now one of France's most revered painters. This is nothing new, but it begs me to wonder if this city, Angers, holds up to its proclamation of being one of Art and History, or just History and its Art. Much of France, like Paris, has succumbed to only promoting and commercializing the idea of its romantic past, as best given example by the magasin-lined rues of Montmartre and Saint-Germain-des-Prés. The once movable feast has been remade into a high-priced buffet, catering its past delicacies to foreigners. This continues into almost all of the western world, not singular unto France.
For solutions, it is my belief that these catered visitors are just as receptive to the New, if only a risk was taken to promote it. Foreigners, while in their home nations, especially those of the BRIC nations, consume massive amounts of new culture; they are already predisposed to appreciating it. It is the mindset in these countries to want something new, and to better their lives and their standard of living. Secondly, it is imperative that these struggling economies look outside their borders for emerging talent. Nationalism is a pride to be taken seriously, but isolationism can not be tolerated in today's climate - this is especially true for the cultural institutions of economically repressed nations. Antonio Manfredi looked outside the borders of Italy for funding and aid, but only to Germany. To send a real signal to his indifferent Italian superiors, the Italian could look to more distant and striking venues - he said his staff were ready to vacate, regardless. Many galleries have already taken these risks in promoting not just themselves in new areas of the world, but also work from new areas to their home nations. This has been met with great success, and I believe there is hope on the horizon.
Just within these past two weeks, the Palais de Tokyo has reopened in Paris after ten months of renovation, with the full $26 million in costs being supplied by the government through the Ministry of Culture. With opening festivities that might have made Jerry Saltz hop back across the pond, the Palais is a great sign for contemporary art in France. That is, if only the rest of France really knew about it. My French roommate - thankfully an artist - supported my belief that only those French who participated in the arts really knew about it. Sadly, the number of such has been slowly dwindling as given evidence from the Christie's closure of its Paris school in 2007.
The Palais is on the right path, though, and has been since its founding 2002. So, director M. de Loisy's success won't rely on how nimbly he navigates the line of introducing new, sometimes provocative art under political gaze, but how he exposes and draws attention to the museum outside its typical audience - the already interested art world. As the Minister of Culture, M. Frédéric Mitterand, hinted at during the museum's opening of it [the Palais] needing outside sponsorship to meet its annual budget of €13m - half funded by the government, there's really no better place to look for such support than those countries so interested in the culture already there. Qatar might be interested, unless they already feels biased towards their investments in the City of London.
Still, France has the capability of returning to the stature it once had as the heart of the 19th century. However, to do this it will need help from those outside the Eurozone - much like it did with that great Lost Generation of expats who called Paris home - to again become that fierce lion of the art world.
Photo courtesy of Diane Megan
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