The Commercial Galleries of Paris

No pictures today, as I am not quite sure of the morality or legality of sharing contemporary work.

Anyway, I had heard that Paris was only good for museum type art work, with no current scene to speak of. So I wasn't hoping for much.

But I had read that Galerie Claude Bernard would be having a show of Giacometti's drawings so I thought I'd have a wander along.

And I'm so glad I did. There are a plethora of galleries within about 5 minutes walk of each other and as they all are clearly visible from the street it is very easy to decide which ones to inspect further. This particular gallery has shown a stunning range of artists in the past - check out the list of previous shows on their webpage.

The Giacometti drawings were in some respects a disappointment, but in an odd way also encouraging - it's always nice to be reminded that the works that end up in museums are the distillation of gazillions of not-quite-as-good work.

Galerie Bayart was showing Christoff Debusschere's lovely paintings of museum interiors - much nicer in the paint than they seem online - they have an amazing sense of light to them, which just doesn't seem to be captured oline. This is a theme I have been thinking about so it was nice to come across a kindred soul.

H Craig Hanna at Laurence Esnol Gallery was colourful and lively, with a real mix of media - interesting to see life drawings given the full gallery treatment. Claire Castagnet at La Galerie du Crous de Paris was showing a whole wall of watercolour pigeons. I was very tempted, but decided that one would not be enough!

Another surprise was the quality of the art magazines - Beaux Arts (especially the special editions), Connaissance des Arts and L'Oeil all stand out, but there were others. Even better, they were not only available in the galleries, but also at the airport and the one kiosk I visited.

Overall, a refreshing change from both the atelier style representational art from America and the ongoing traditions we have here in Britain.