Street Lamp (yellow bench) , 2012, (neon, concrete, metal, electricity)

You might never be able to see the exhibition at the “104”  since the public art space is closed at the moment, but I can testify that Iván Navarro, the Chilean neon artist based in New York, was there for the opening on January 8 th,  commuting from the US twice this month. On January 30 th he is again at galerie Templon for the opening of his show there. This is a large exhibition, which includes music, video and neon sculptures in the basement of the art space near La Villette.

Iván Navarro in front of “Emergency Ladder”, 2018 at “104” on January 8

While the 104 shows twenty years of the artist’s life, Galerie Templon exhibits ten new pieces made in 2019 and last year during lockdown in New York. The poetic walk through cosmos’ landscapes “Planetarium”, is represented by large glass panels illuminated with imaginary maps engraved and painted on the glass. The effect is quite magical just what we need at the moment to keep dreaming.

Ivàn Navarro, Constellations, 2019, Galerie Tempon

And while you are at 30 rue Beaubourg, make sure to walk over to rue du Temple where Galleria Continua has opened an “Epicerie” with a large show of all its most famous artists curated by JR. The mix of olive oil and pasta for sale in the middle of catalogs and small reproductions of artworks is new and great fun. Pascale Mathine Tayou has a large “Flaneur” in teh hallway, Anthony Gormley a tiny bronze man leaning on the floor, Anish Kapoor and Subodh Gupta show their usual pieces while JR has a large installation with the Eiffel Tower. Kader Attia shows a wall of his own stamps, and Ai WeiWei, a beautiful little marble boat.

JR’s installation at Galleria Continua is surrounded by vases made by Ornaghi & Prestinari

The place is conceived as “a welcoming space open to experimentation, flexible, inclusive and accessible to all, while not architecturally adhering to the canons of the white cube”. It wants to be like a grocery store where people of all milieux can exchange ideas and come and shop. The reverse of an intimidating gallery. And it seems to work since people go in and out all the time.

At 85 rue du Temple, a grocery store for art

Litterally next door at 79, Galerie Jean Gabriel Mitterrand shows a few pretty pieces including a neon “Elliptical Shield Extended arm, 2005” by the late Keith Sonnier and a wooden chest “Mnémosyne”, 1989, by Anne and Patrick Poirier. While in teh next courtyard, Marianne  Goodman shows new works by Christian Boltanski.

Christian Boltanski, Les Linges, 2020, in the exhibition “Après” at Marian Goodman

“Les Linges” the artist’s new installation conceived during lockdown refers to hospital sheets. They are a mass of white cloths on trolleys randomly filling the centre of the gallery on the ground floor. Downstairs a set of four videos “Les Disparus” show bucolic countrysides which alternate with  “Les Esprits”  ghostly faces of children. This is his first show in Paris since the large one at Centre Pompidou.

Ivàn Navarro, Sediments , 2018 at Templon

So stop complaining that museums are closed and go for a walk in the Marais where so much art can be seen in private galleries!

Templon 30 rue Beaubourg and three galleries at 79 and 85 rue du Temple.