Art in Paris: Beaux-Arts Graduate Show

Tags

Ari, Art, École des beaux-arts, École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts, Beaux-Arts, Bilal Hamdad, Champeaux, Christine Safa, contemporary art, Jared, Koong Shengqi, La Forchette, Lucas Talbotier, Talbotier, The Fork

Glutton for art that I am, I took in another exhibit on Tuesday afternoon after the Berthe Morisot show. In 2016 Sherard and I had stumbled on a gallery show of work by a student at the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts of Paris named Lucas Talbotier. It was the opening night (vernissage) so we were able to meet and talk with the artist. I was impressed by both art and artist and have followed Lucas’ career ever since. He had two large works in a show for recent Beaux-Arts graduates.

Conveniently, the Beaux-Arts exhibit was just a few blocks along the Seine. Canicule or not, the view of the Pont des Arts was still quite gorgeous.

It was a pleasure to be greeted by Lucas in the lobby, and he graciously let me take this photograph of him with his paintings.

Lucas Talbotier with “Red Cross,” 2018 ,and “Twins”, 2018, at the 2019 Beaux-Arts recent graduate show.

After chatting with Lucas for a few minutes I explored the rest of the show.

Main Floor, Beaux-Arts Graduate Show

A few pieces by other recent graduates caught my eye.

Bilal Hamdad, Entre les Murs, 2018

Christine Safa, Soleil Orange et Pins, 2019

Finally, as I was walking down the stairs to leave I noticed these interesting sculptures by Koong Shengqi on the landing. The only caption I saw referred to them as Théâtre Anatomique but I’m not sure whether that referred to only one of them.

Koong Shengqi, 2019

Koong Shengqi, 2019 (detail)

Koong Shengqi, 2019

After the Beaux-Arts show I headed across the river to meet Jared and another friend he had met during his college year abroad. Ari is from New York but he fell in love with Paris during his own year abroad and moved here permanently after graduating from NYU. I was delighted when he proposed dinner at Champeaux both because I like it and because I would be able to use another 1,000 La Forchette/The Fork “Yums” to et us a 10 euro discount. The food and wine were exactly the same as my previous two meals there: perfectly nice.

My raspberry pistachio tart, with a scoop of raspberry sorbet, at Champeaux.

This time the manager’s greeting was very warm but the service was spotty, the opposite of my first visit. My 10 euro discount wasn’t reflected on the original bill but the manager quickly rectified the problem. Despite the glitches it was once again an overall good experience, for a quite reasonable price.

After dinner Jared and Ari asked for a picture together so I posed them in front of the nearby listening head sculpture, Ecoute.

Jared and Ari at Ecoute

Jared and I walked Ari back to his neighborhood, near Bastille, then took the (air conditioned) line 5 back home.

Dinners at Champeaux

Tags

Art, Belleville, Canal de l'Ourcq, Champeaux, Conservatoire de Paris, Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, La Grande Canopée, meals, Récitals de fin de l'année, Sherard, Zhizhong

On Monday we went up to Belleville one last time to pick up the small Clem Letrusko painting that Sherard had purchased on Friday, and to visit a few galleries that were on our must-see list. We had planned to make this a relatively restful day, but as it happened we kept seeing additional pieces that we wanted to buy, which required us to walk down the hill to an ATM then back up to the artist or gallery to buy the piece. We ended up walking 11 miles on our “rest day”!

For dinner I proposed a nearby restaurant, Champeaux, beneath the Grande Canopée. It looked quite stylish, and wasn’t terribly expensive. Besides, I had an ulterior motive: I had been reserving restaurants through the website of The Fork/La Fourchette for years. I had gotten some nice discounts but I had never accumulated enough points to use them before they expired. I noticed that I had enough “Yums” for a $10 discount, and Champeaux was one of relatively few restaurants that accepted them! We both enjoyed our meals and we particularly loved the wine they recommended: Triennes IGP Méditerranée Viognier Sainte Fleur Blanc 2018, which Sherard subsequently discovered can be found in the U.S.!

Sherard and me on Monday at Champeaux

My salmon on Monday at Champeaux

I proposed a range of options for Tuesday, Sherard’s last day. He selected thesis performances by students graduating from the Conservatoire de Musique et de Danse, Récitals de fin de l’année.  I enthusiastically agreed, since I really enjoy these accomplished non-touristy (and free) concerts. In retrospect, however, I probably should have recommended something closer to home, or in a less familiar direction, since this was in the far north-east corner of Paris, close where we had already spent most of the week, so the walk was both long and partially repetitive.

We watched a couple of good performances but then needed to go get some food. Eventually we found a modest place on the Canal de l’Ourcq for a traditional lunch. After eating we walked home along the canals, and over to the Galerie Vivienne to find some vintage postcards Sherard had noticed earlier in his stay. With that mission accomplished we headed home, after a 12 mile day.

My friend Zhizhong joined us for dinner. I had reserved at an Italian place in the neighborhood, but when I mentioned our meal the previous evening at Champeaux Zhizhong’s eyes lit up, so we decided to cancel my reservation and go right back there for dinner.

Sherard, Zhizhong and me on Tuesday at Champeaux

My cod on Tuesday at Champeaux

Sherard and Zhizhong with soufflée desserts on Tuesday at Champeaux

My strawberry rhubarb dessert on Tuesday at Champeaux

Champeaux gets a quite good overall rating of 8.8 on The Fork, and we really enjoyed both meals, but I have to admit that it has some flaws: Service was somewhat uneven, and the greeting our first night was downright strange, with the maitre’d being busy talking with a couple of policemen and a waiter being unable at first to find our reservation. The portions aren’t large and the prices aren’t cheap, but we had enough to eat both nights, and the bill wasn’t punishing: 40 euros per person including wine and desserts. You would pay more at a similarly nice restaurant in Boston. The location in a shopping center is admittedly a bit odd, but the room itself is light and airy and stylishly decorated. All in all I think the critics are being churlish; Champeaux is good value for money.

Zhizhong and I stayed up past midnight solving life’s problems, but Sherard had an early flight so he went to bed after dinner. In the morning he headed out to the airport without waking me, but left a nice farewell note on a vintage postcard.