We sped along the highway to Belgium, not a border patrol in sight! Flying into Amsterdam I was struck by a sarky comment from the passport control guard about us leaving the EU. I didn't vote for Brexit so I ain't taking the blame! But hurtling across 3 countries in the space of a few hours without a single border patrol highlighted just how stupid a move Brexit has been and I fear there is much worse to come. But ill save those jibes for later, for now its all about service station McDonalds and eagerly watching the sat nav while DJ Bad Boy pumps across the speakers!
We drove into Paris under the cover of darkness, debating whether to head straight out for a look at the Arc de Triomphe. We opted to save our energy and got to bed at our hotel which was located a 30 minute tube ride from the Arc. I'm glad we'd waited as we awoke to glorious sunshine and temperatures that will cook a Scotsman. First stop the 'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped' the culmination of a lifetimes work for artists Jeanne-Claude & Christo. As the escalator lifted us out of the subway and the Arc appeared I was struck with a spine tingling joy. This was the main focus for our trip, our raison d'être so to finally be standing under the wrapped arches looking up at the magnificent work was breath taking. Seeing the throngs of people walking around the infamous Parisian roundabout and how people engaged with the work, so simple in its nature and yet the result of 60 years of planning, surreal. Of course ill cover Jeanne-Claude & Christo and the 'Ard de Trimphe, Wrapped' in a fully dedicated blog post which ill share soon.
After about an hour of admiring the work we headed down the Champ Elysees in search of galleries and culture. Our first stop was the result of a wrong turn which brought us to an amazing show of Christo 'Early & Unrealized Projects'. The perfect show to follow up what we'd just seen, this show featured a host of early artworks with wrapped objects and store fronts along with large scale projects including wrapped rivers and valleys. These projects were showcased with original drawings, detailed sketches and scale models. These drawings in and of themselves felt like wonderful artworks and you can see the strings which connect Christo's early conceptual works with his latter large scale installations and builds.
After leaving the show we headed for our third Christo event of the day this time at Sothebys Auction House who we're hosting the original conceptual artworks and drawings for the Arc Wrapped project. These large scale drawings captured every detail of the project from the technical dimensions for the wrap down to the different elevations and perspectives, including a highly accurate night time view complete with light streaks from car headlights which I tried to capture in a tiktok here. A video played in the background with Christo speaking about his work for the project, dipping his pencil in paint as he worked on some of these drawings with his annotated notes creating something between an architects drawing and a piece of visual poetry that played out across each piece. It felt quite special to be able to view these after coming from the Arc and seeing the thoughts and emotions that had gone into bringing such a big project to life.
As with Rotterdam before Dave had an itinerary of galleries and shows for us to check out. Our next stop featured some special historical works relating to the world of graffiti and the emergence of street art at the Ghost Galerie. Travelling with a couple of old graffiti heads has it benefits as we gazed upon some incredible early works by pioneers of the New York graffiti movement like Dondi, Futura, Blade, Ramellzee and Keith Haring along with their European counterparts like Shoe & Invader. I've been a fan of Futura since discovering his pointman paintings via Unkle & Mo Wax Records in the late 90's. His work continues to push boundaries and it's been nice to see him finally be paid his dues by the contemporary art world and culture hustlers alike.
Our next stop took us to the Fluctuart Centre D'Art Urbain, a floating gallery with gallery space, book shop and restaurant. We decided to grab some lunch while floating on the Seine but I was left slightly disappointed after ordering what I thought was a pizza and receiving a box of cold meat & cheese with some bonus pickles. I resisted the urge to lob it into the river and instead tried to pretend I was a man of European tastes who knew exactly what he'd ordered. Where the food let me down, the Fluctuart collection more than made up for it with an impressive show of works by Portugal's VHILS filling up the lower deck along with some nice pieces by Banksy and other notable street artists showing on the upper deck. We had to remind ourselves that we had quite a lot of walking ahead as we eyed a number of books in the shop, opting for a few lightweight purchases.
We headed off in search of the 75Shop & Gallery and noted how the tags get bigger the closer you get. The gallery had some interesting work on show by Diksa which flowed across canvases and onto the stairwell outside. Our every step seemed to bring us more art as we left the graffiti covered streets to find our tube covered in fresh pieces, graffiti in its natural environment. As with New York Paris is also home to many graffiti trucks with entire streets filled with these moving canvases. We swapped the gallery for the graveyard, paying a visit to the infamous Pere Lachaise cemetary where I paid my respects to Jim Morrison. I fell in love with The Doors in my teenage years and had always wanted to visit his Parisian resting place. The bells rang out indicating closing time for Pere so we checked out a lovely community garden across the street where people of all ages come together, some playing sports while others indulge in conversations about the days big news. It's the kind of spaces where community can be fostered but would probably be turned into flats faster than you can say Stewart Milne had we been in Aberdeen.
As the night came we made a quick decision to visit the Damien Hirst show at the Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art. With entire floors filled with large cherry blossom paintings, I was underwhelmed with Hirst's latest effort but I'm sure the acution house is pleased with some 100 paintings being produced in the set of which 30 odd were on display. Maybe I was bit cultured out after our day of sightseeing but our dinner at Maison Edgar gave us a chance to sit down and soak in some Parisian cafe culture. The food was great and the staff were super friendly too which gave us a little boost before heading off back to the Arc for a night time visit. We spent an hour taking in the Arc in all its glory as the reflective material glistened and reflected the glare of the car headlights as they flew around the iconic monument.
The next day we set off in search of Monet and headed for the Musee de L'Orangerie, home to the Water Lilies room filled with 200m2 of panels created as a marker for peace in Europe in 1918. It would be another 8 years with Monet still working on the panels after numerous changes right up to his death in 1926. It's a fascinating tale of how the works came to be, how they were received at the time and their subsequent importance in the history of art. You can read about it all here. They were truly stunning to see, much more impressive than the cherry blossoms the night before. The Musee is also home to an impressive collection of artworks and I had a new experience while gazing upon a particular painting titled L'Enfant a la poupee by Henri Rousseau. I immediately burst into a fit of laughter. I almost had to leave the gallery. Even now looking at the image fills me with a real joy that I've not experienced from a painting previously. Although maybe not the artists intention, I'm glad I discovered la poupee.
Leaving before we got kicked out, we jumped onto a bus heading along the riverside to the Palais de Tokyo where Dave had word of a secret street art tour in the museums basement. But first we had to show our proof of vaccination, a common event during out time in Paris. Of course we'd prepped and had all the required documents on our phones. While some back home we're comparing the move to WW2 fascists we moved around Paris with ease. After some milling around our tour guide appeared as if by magic and led us down into the dungeons of the Palais. After stepping through the 'Staff Only' doors we we're confronted by walls, tunnels and stairwells covered in art! The Palais has been quietly building up a street art gallery featuring a wealth of artists including Futura, Cleon Peterson along with French artists Horfee, Lek & Sowat with some artists spending months adding to the project. I believe there's even more hidden away in the secret smoke evacuation ducts under the building but these are not open to the public. Our guide did a great job in explaining the background to the project and the importance of the artists involved. Who knew that just a few meters away from where the skateboarders master their tricks, different masters have secretly left their mark on one of Paris biggest and most progressive cultural spaces!
The rest of our day became about seeing as many landmarks as possible with a visit to the Centre Pompidou, the Sacré Coeur, another night visit to the Arc and a walk around the Eiffel Tower, very romantic I might add. Our final day in Paris promised more of the same as we navigated the Parisian subway to find more street art including Inavder, C215 and a new Logan Hicks mural. We whizzed along on e scooters in the 13th Arrondissement taking in many impressive large scale murals from friends like Addfuel and artists like Shepard Fairey, HowNosm and Seth Globepainter. Indeed big names on the street art scene and the murals still have a big impact as we spent an hour exploring those on the main street. Our next stop took us to the Gallerie Mathgoth who also curate some of the 13th artists. The exhibition on show titled 'Nu' featured more work from friends of Nuart including Akut, Isaac Cordal, Fintan Magee and Hera. Our final stop took us face to face with street artists at the 'Street Culture' event being held at Paris La Défense. We made a beeline to the Le Grand Jeu stall to pick up new additions for the bookshelves at home. I think perhaps we were arted out after seeing so much during our trip but the architecture and Parisian sunset made for a perfect end to our last day in the city of light.
And with that we had to make our way to Calais and the infamous border crossing, a hot topic in recent weeks but there was no mile long lorry ques waiting to enter the UK that's for sure. But our time in Paris was special and seeing the Arc Wrapped was worth all the stress and drama of travelling during the pandemic. And the feeling of walking unfamiliar streets is good for the soul, adventure with a hint of danger but also suprises around every corner. Indeed the streets and galleries of Paris offer a bounty of culture from architecture to street art, food and all the good things that make a place worth visiting. It's sad to think that Brexit has added certain barriers to seeing our European neighbours and all the rest of the issues its created. As the shops across Europe sat fully stocked stories of fuel shortages and empty shelves abounded as we made our way back Britain but we'd have other challenges to face before bidding farewell to France!
More on that in Pandemic Travels part 3, the home stretch. Thanks for taking the time to read these travel posts and if you'd like to see more photos of my adventure then check out the photo album on my Facebook page here.
