Paris Artists' Ateliers

In "la Miroiterie", a collective artist studio in Menilmontant

There is something you should not miss if you are interested in Art and stay in Paris at this time of the year . Every year at the end of summer, a group of artists working in the Menilmontant neighbourhood organizes three days of "portes ouvertes" (open doors) with visitors welcomed in the ateliers, to see the works , the places , and chat with the artists . The event is very well planned, with massive printing of a detailed map of the neighbourhood with exact locations of the studios . The event takes place in the vicinity of Menilmontant street , in the 20th arrondissenent, a district wich still retains today its popular parisian touch and was immortalized through famous photographers works like the ones by Willy Ronis . Even today, when you walk across this part of Paris , you can often feel the ghosts of this bygone era, wich most of us know only through the photographs .

Frederick Holmes, who is from New YorkThe first artist I spoke to was Frederick Holmes . It was at "la Miroiterie" a defunct mirror factory transformed into a collection of ateliers . I was taking pictures and we talked together , that's when I asked where he was from . He was leaving soon for a few days in N.Y. before coming back here .

I love these "portes ouvertes" because you can not only speak with artists, but also visualize living and working spaces in the back alleys of this old Paris neighbourhood that you can't even imagine when you walk in the street . And it is quite refreshing to look at the decors and the details in the different studios ( the view on the right was taken in another studio a few blocks away ).
A pochoir work at la Miroiterie, by artiste-ouvrier, is bach , and 6lexThis pochoir work was also at la miroiterie , but the artists who made it were not present . The three authors, known under their artist names, are is bach , 6lex and artiste ouvrier. They created here a composition made of individual pochoirs crafted into a multifaceted mosaic .
By the way , this area in Paris is where you can see very interesting pochoirs and murals . Here is a link to some of them .
Annie Rosès in her AtelierAnnie Rosès has a special love for red and black, and her paintings carry the depth and the energy of these two colors. I used to make prints of her paintings in my lab and learnt to appreciate the red bust of fire springing from a dominantly dark ensemble.email : annieroses [at] wanadoo [dot] frPic , in front of his recent workPic was a few years ago into an ultra-realism phase, with paintings inspired by french and hollywoodian movies . He nows paints figurative works at the limit of abstraction, where movies and photography still play an important role .

Sarah Simon , in front of a collage workSarah Simon exposes also in the Portes Ouvertes , in a former shop transformed into a studio . She lives in Paris but her atelier is located in Suresnes , a Paris suburb . She also gives drawing and painting courses . She makes collages and paints on them, with at the end the collage side melted into the painting . Chen Qian , in front of two of his paintingsAs I wandered on several locations, following the indications of the map edited by the group, or just looking at the posters pointing to the buildings with atelier participating in the event, I went through several beautiful hidden courtyards with cobblestones wich by themselves will make your day . You see Paris on an usual angle and you travel trough time . At one point, I went in building housing several studios , one of wich was occupied by Chen Qian , a chinese national who left his country in 1999 and works in Paris . Several of his recent works are bright-coloured and oval-shaped paintings .