Latest Contemporary Art Displayed at FIAC, Paris
October 25, 2012 
Irwin Weiner ASID - While we were in Paris the weekend of FIAC, the International Contemporary Art Fair, we weren't keen to stand in long ticketholder lines at the Grand Palais and queue up to see an infinite number of art spaces. (A lame excuse; we probably were too late to get tickets.) Instead, we saw other exhibitions nearby, took in an art and design fair just outside FIAC - more on that in a future post, and saw an inflatable Stonehenge that we thought was a kiddie amusement feature (nope; even though everyone was bouncing around inside it, we learned later that it was an outdoor FIAC art installation). In today's featured video, you'll see some of the latest contemporary artwork. I'm not astounded, I must be honest.
There are "room installations" (a treehouse built in a corner gallery space, a disheveled bathroom scene), contemporary works in acrylic, photography (close-up on a body part or industrial and architectural), playful use of objects-as-art (car wash brushes, decaying grand pianos, faceted mirrors turning), and many works in neon and mixed media showing English language words and sayings (done to death; hopefully the trend is over with).
My favorite artwork in the video was a lenticular or video framed canvas (I couldn't tell which) of a man juggling; supremely clever and mesmerizing. The winner of FIAC 2012, however, was the sculpture shown in the top photo, a reclining tombstone figure called Diving Man by Daniel Dewar and Gregory Gicquel. Does this herald the death of contemporary art? (It really is a sculpture privately commissioned for a cemetery.) You be the judge.
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