24 Mar 2017

ART PARIS ART FAIR 2017 : AFRICA GUEST OF HONOUR

The place to be for modern and contemporary art this Spring
Africa Guest of Honour
From 30th March to 2nd April 2017, Art Paris Art Fair brings together 139 galleries from 29 different countries, representing 1.550 artists, at the Grand Palais. The 2017 edition, bolstered by the presence of many leading modern art galleries, focuses in particular on trends in European art from the post-war years until the present day, whilst welcoming emerging artists from all around the world.
The invitation of Africa as guest of honour will reveal a unique insight into contemporary African artistic horizons with close to 100 artists on show and a series of side events. The Promises section presents emerging talents from an ever wider range of countries while the Solo Show part offers some twenty four monographic exhibitions disseminated throughout the fair. 


Guest of honour: Africa – an exceptional in-depth focus. 
Under the leadership of cultural consultant and independent exhibition curator, Marie-Ann Yemsi, the invitation of Africa as guest of honour highlights a previously-unseen perspective of contemporary African artistic horizons.

Spread across the different sections of the fair, around twenty galleries from South Africa, Angola, Cameroon, the Ivory Coast, Morocco, Nigeria, Uganda, Senegal, Tunisia and Europe showcase the talented emerging generation of artists from both the African continent itself and its diaspora (Billie Zangewa, Gareth Nyandoro, Mohau Modisakeng, Moffat Takadiwa, Mario Macilau, Bili Bidjocka...)
On top of the galleries that are part of the focus, around fifteen western galleries have chosen to show the work of their African artists.

A very complete events programme will accompany the exploration of this continent in a state of artistic effervescence: A selection of videos entitled Landscapes of the Body will be screened at Art Paris Art Fair, a day of encounters and talks at La Colonie on the 31st March from 10am to 6:30pm will bring together key cultural figures and producers who are committed to promoting Africa-based artists and members of the diaspora. Finally this African spotlight coincides with many other exhibitions in various Parisian museums and institutions: Afriques Capitales curated by Simon Njami at La Villette, Les mutants de Soly Cissé at the Dapper Museum, Le jour qui vient at La Galerie des Galerie. And many more besides

Promises: a new prize to support emerging creative talents  
The Promises section showcases twelve promising galleries established less than six years ago. The 2017 selection is entirely international with galleries from Abidjan, Amsterdam, Bogota, Bratislava, Geneva, Lagos, London, Luanda and Rome.
New for 2017, Art Paris Art Fair, in partnership with L'art est vivant and The Fine Art Collective, are launching the L'art est vivant prize that will honour an artist whose work is presented at Promises.

Solo Show: monographic exhibitions by modern and contemporary artists. 
The Solo Show section includes some 24 personal exhibitions scattered throughout the fair. This is an opportunity to discover or re-discover the work of modern or contemporary artists.

List of solo shows: Eduardo Arroyo (Galeria Alvaro Alcazar, Madrid) - Hicham Benohoud (Loft Art Gallery, Casablanca) - Marcel Berlanger (Galerie Nicolas Silin, Paris) - Marion Boehm (ARTCO Gallery, Aachen) - Sou Fujimoto (Galerie Philippe Gravier, Paris) - Kendell Geers (ADN Galería, Barcelona) - Thomas Henriot (Galerie Christophe Tailleur, Strasbourg) - Hoon Kwak (Phosphorus & Carbon, Daegu, Ulleung-gun) - Mohamed Lekleti (Dupré & Dupré Gallery, Béziers) - Mario Macilau (Ed Cross Fine Art, London) - Tsuyoshi Maekawa (Artisyou, Paris) - Ramuntcho Matta (Salamatina Gallery, New York) - MaxB (In Camera, Paris) - Najia Mehadji (Galerie Claude Lemand, Paris) - Julian Mereuta (Allegra Nomad Gallery, Bucarest) - Mohau Modisakeng (WHATIFTHEWORLD, Cape Town/Johannesburg) - Ugo Schildge (Perpitch & Bringand, Paris) - Edouard Wolton (Galerie Les Filles du Calvaire, Paris) - Gao Xingjian (Galerie Claude Bernard, Paris) - Billie Zangewa, (AFRONOVA GALLERY, Johannesburg)

Solo Show goes on the road with Bus Expo
From 25th March to 3rd April 2017, the busses Le Bus Direct – Paris Aéroport that shuttle between the city and its airports in the greater Paris area as well as along the capital's main avenues will feature an itinerant exhibition of the work of five artists from the fair's Solo Show section. The aim is to make contemporary art accessible to the widest possible audience.

The five selected artists are: Eduardo Arroyo (Galeria Alvaro Alcazar), Serge Attukwei Clottey (GNYP), Mario Macilau (Ed Cross Fine Art), Edouard Wolton (Galerie Les Filles du Calvaire), Billie Zangewa (AFRONOVA GALLERY).

Solo Show is sponsored by Bus Expo, Le Bus Direct – Paris Aéroport and Barnebys

Art Paris Art Fair Office
55, avenue Kléber
75016 Paris 
T +33 (0)1 56 26 52 00
F +33 (0)1 47 55 19 31
www.artparis.com

Press agency 
Heymann, Renoult Associées
Sarah Heymann / Eléonore Grau,
artparis.hra@heymann-renoult.com 
T +33 (0)1 44 61 76 76
www.heymann-renoult.com