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Which famous artist will transform the Place Vendôme during the FIAC?
From 19 October, as part of the FIAC’s off-site programme, the Place Vendôme will once again host the monumental work of an artist in parallel with the fair. After Yayoi Kusama, Paul McCarthy and Ugo Rondinone, this time it is the American artist Alexander Calder, a major figure in modern art, whose huge metal sculpture will be discovered in this Parisian setting, made a year before his death in 1976.
From 21 to 24 October, the FIAC, the annual contemporary art event in Paris, will take place for the first time at the Grand Palais Éphémère, due to the work on the Grand Palais scheduled until 2024. As every year, in parallel with the fair, the FIAC hors-les-murs is planning a wide programme in the four corners of the capital, taking over several of its key venues. Among them, the Place Vendôme has occupied a prominent place since 2012: this prestigious site in the first arrondissement of Paris, where many luxury houses are based, hosts the monumental work of an artist from the opening week of the fair. After Paul McCarthy’s giant plug in 2014, the forest of trees and stone homes by Ugo Rondinone in 2016, the myriad starfish of the duo Elmgreen & Dragset in 2018 or the yellow pumpkin with black polka dots from Yayoi Kusama in 2019, it’s a sculpture by the American Alexander Calder, who will make his appearance on the emblematic square this autumn , and will remain there until January 2. For the first time in nine editions, the fair is exhibiting a project by a deceased artist, in this case one of the major figures of modern art.
With its 6 meters high and 17 meters wide, the red steel work will not go unnoticed. Created in 1975 by the American artist, only a year before his death, this sculpture is part of his “stabiles”, metal structures placed on the ground as opposed to his famous “mobiles”, compositions suspended and in motion. Close to the Parisian artistic avant-garde in the 30s, Alexander Calder created many abstract and light sculptures, playing on the balance of abstract forms and primary colors. In this end-of-life creation, this engineer by training demonstrates his great technical prowess: composed of three major parts , a central core and two wings, its overall shape evokes a huge dragon, which will soon seem to take off from the Place Vendôme. A partner in this project with the FIAC and the Calder Foundation, the Gagosian gallery will open a new space in the first arrondissement of Paris on October 19, whose inaugural exhibition, dedicated to the American artist, will look back on his approach through his archival documents.
