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Sometimes it pays to stay a little longer than the opening day. I finally get to check out the great world of Paris retail! Lovely Halina Von Kempski invites me to the opening of Hermes, lead by the communications director Michael Coste. It was before opening time and it felt so intimate
From there we went straight to Asia Now there was so much to see. We loved Nina Jayasuriya - this glazed stoneware work is called ‘Sapattu’
I liked very much Trevor Yeung the work ‘Chaotic Suns’ made of light bulbs cables and plugs
Also ‘The crossing 257’ by Bao Vuong at A2Z Art Gallery. In the crossing series Vuong tells of his family experience and his epic migration story while fleeing Vietnam after the war. These works talk about the ‘inner light’
The work of compulsions of fiction was very interesting by Agini Ratna Wulan
The ceramics of Jane Yang D’Haene were a show stopper
The highlight was at Galerie Les Filles du Calvaire and the watercolour works and wall paintings by star in the making Makiko Furuichi. A fantastic end to an action packed few days of art research
Over at Art Basel conversations there was a wonderful talk on ‘The grotesque and the ugly’ with Jamian Juliano Villiani. The spoke about one of my favourite paintings from this year by Jamian - ‘Elvis and Me’
Last stop before we left for London was an all-star visit with the British Council to the British Embassy hosted by the British ambassador to France, Dame Menna Rawlings, Dr Paul and Raimund are such committed supporters of the arts, its always a pleasure to be with likeminded souls
Back at home in London – we rested and then got back to it …. we felt the warm welcome when we visited artist Amedeo Polazzo in his Camden studio, his works are so varied and jewel like, each one has its own investigation and issues to attend to
We also finally made it back to Maria Bernheim’s gorgeous gallery to bathe in the refreshing and vibrant works of Sarah Slappey. Her hypersurrealist images of body parts, such as this work ‘Blood Bath’ are astounding in their finish and composition
And we finished that week with a great visit by the Voorlinden Museum - led by Yvette Van Caldenborgh and her parents Joop and Charlotte. Such a pleasure to meet so many likeminded and ambitious supporters of the arts in Holland