Palais de Tokyo

I know I mentioned in my last post that I went to the Palais de Tokyo, but I want to talk a bit more about it, since it's really about as modern as one can get for an art in Paris - everything on display is from artists ranging from my age to their sixties. It just opened up in January, 2002, and is facing the end of its first batch of curators, which are to be rotated every five years to keep what's happening fresh and different. So, for their last expo, the curators are showing what they feel will be the most important artists of the future - and it's an interesting mix.

What sometimes is odd for me about seeing super-contemporary art is that in many ways, it's incredibly nebulous. Art has basically succeeded in becoming absolutely anything. There's no more medieval craftsman's guilds or neoclassical rigidity or even the burden of having to paint what one sees. We've succeeded, through this gigantic series of reactions upon reactions, of basically reacting against everything rigid in art. What's difficult for me is that, after spending some time at my favorite place - the Musee Gustave Moreau, and then going to check out the Greek and Roman Antiquities at the Louvre today - is that these are things that are marvels. Be it red figure pottery or one of the fantastical designs of Moreau, a man that taught Matisse and many other important painters, you get a real palpable sense of a creation. In super-contemporary art, which is often incredibly esoteric to begin with, it's hard for me to stare at a watermelon on a stand in the Palais de Tokyo. I guess what I'm trying to say is that art is anything, everything. While I appreciate the possibility of expression opened up, it's also disheartening to walk into a museum and literally not even want to take a second look at half of the works.

That's not to say there aren't good things at the Tokyo, there are plenty, and I'd reccomend it as well because it's open until midnight, and there's no better way to get a sense of being hip and Parisian. Also, the boutique and bookstore are both incredibly cool - perfect place to buy a gift for someone who's kind of eclectic. Also, I saw a lot of kids there - some of the works are interactive and it's almost like being in a science museum - I'd reccomend it for that.