Paris!!! I LOVE Paris, and I am so thankful that my galleries take my pictures to this great art fair almost every year for 10 years now! I would not have an excuse to travel to Paris so regularly without that fair and without my work being exhibited. Even in the years I don't have new work to show, I still can argue that it is absolutely necessary to travel to Paris because it's the biggest and most important fair for vintage and contemporary photography in Europe. I have met so many interesting artist and galleries over the years and it feels almost like a family meeting now to see them all again. Of course I make new contacts too and since I deduct this trip on my tax form, it is officially agreed on that this is "work". And it is too! Paris Photo got incredibly popular over the years and even had to move from Palais du Louvre to Grand Palais in 2011 to fit more visitors. It since became even larger and I don't blame anyone: the Grand Palais in itself is such a beautiful sight. It's breathtaking to look up into the "sky" of cast iron and glass and the fair gets a wonderful airy feeling in this greenhouse setting. I love to sit and relax on the steps to the upper floors and eat a tasty (but pricy) fast food lunch and enjoy the atmosphere.
To see it all, takes time. I usually stay three days and come to the fair every day for a few hours and still have the feeling I have not seen it all. The habit of the exhibitors to rehang during the fair does'nt help either - and so you start every day almost all over again. I always try it with a system - along the isles alphabetically - thats the plan at least, but I have to admit I have never managed to stick to it. If you are not super concentrated, you will get distracted by a beautiful picture in one of the side alleys and then that's it - you are lost.
HORST P. HORST Nina de Voogh
Last year I roamed the fair a few hours with Robert Schultze, the manager of photographer Mat Hennek. We were a good team and I can only recommend cruising the fair with an ally by your side. Together we managed almost full coverage and it was fun to discuss the art with someone with another approach. l love to see all the diversity at the fair.
Don't get me wrong - I don't like everything I see on the fair. It's pretty much the opposite, really. I hardly love anything! Most art is just too much for me. Too much color, too much concept, too much picture. The sizes grew over time too and its not rare to see prints 3x8 meters. But in between I find the pictures that touch me. I can't explain exactly what it is, but when its right, I fall in love with a photo straight away. For me that mostly happens with vintage prints: moody, blurred and with a lot of mushy grey tones. The vintage prints are rare and hard to spot, but there is one booth I always come out happy: Camera Obscura. The owner seems to have the same sensual approach to photography as me - I never get disappointed.
But at some point it's enough - even for a photographer, even in this beautiful location. And since the whole city is a big playground for art lovers I go explore. The time is always flying and I never achieve to see everything on my long list of activities and places to visit that I make weeks before the trip. But that doesn't matter. Being a mother of a chatty 8 year old, I enjoy my three days of adult conversation with people that share the same interests. In daily life my focus on art and my own creativity are often diluted over grocery shopping, the laundry, parent-teacher meetings, and the usual day to day obstacles that real life normaly comes with. But here I am an artist (it even says so on the plastic card that I have hanging around my neck when I am on the fair), I am a woman (yes, the french men flirt much better then the germans) and I can do three days in a row what I want, when I want and how I want it! I LOVE Paris!!!!!
Yes, I am!
I am proud to be represented at Paris Photo again this year. Blanca Bernheimer from my Munich/Luzern based gallery Bernheimer Fine Art will put together a beautiful show again. Paris Photo will be from November 10-13 at the Grand Palais, Main Sector: D07
