Anaël Pigeat

Art critic, journalist and curator

Crédits : Michael-Huard

Anaël Pigeat is an art critic, journalist, and exhibition curator. A graduate of the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, she was editor-in-chief of the magazine "art press" before becoming editor-at-large for the monthly "The Art Newspaper France". She also contributes to the culture section of "Paris Match". On France Culture radio, she worked as a commentator on "La Dispute" and produced "Master Classes" as well as the "À Voix Nue" series. She produces the podcast "Phonomaton", through which she notably created the series "Paroles du Louvre", featuring 12 artists. She is also dedicated to exploring the most current forms of artistic creation through publications such as "Cinéma Martial Raysse" (Les Presses du Réel, 2014), ""Effervescence de la peinture dans l’art contemporain" (Flammarion, 2021), and "Alice Neel" (Flammarion, 2022). She has curated exhibitions showcasing the emerging contemporary art scene, including "Entre tes yeux et les images que j'y vois" (2022) at the Fondation Pernod Ricard, "Jennifer Douzenel: Out of the Blue" (2022) at UNESCO, "Dana Schutz: le monde visible" (2024) at the Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris, and "L’art et la vie et inversement" (2025) at the Beaux-Arts de Paris.

A walk through Paris Gallery Weekend

How joyous it is to discover each other’s programs, and to make my choices of visits during Paris Gallery Weekend. I always enjoy seeing the exhibitions at Andréhn-Schiptjenko, a Swedish gallery that, since moving to Paris, has brought a fresh air to the table: artists from the North that we haven’t seen much of here, or others from emerging Parisian scene. The first exhibition of Siri Derkert (1888-1973) in Paris, where she lived for a time, arouses my curiosity: a modernist painter committed to women’s rights. Lalitha Lajmi (1932-2023), another historic artist, is being shown for the first time in Paris at Anne Barrault. The exhibition is a Carte blanche for curator and art critic Skye Arundhati Thomas. Born in Calcutta, this artist often represents herself in her images, perhaps as a way of talking about the world while talking about herself, through dreamlike features that compose a silent, interior atmosphere.

I first became acquainted with the work of Marianne Berenhaut (b. 1934) a few years ago in a group show at the Centre Wallonie Bruxelles. Here she reappears in Bluebird, an exhibition organized by the Dvir Gallery. Based in Tel Aviv and Brussels, this gallery has also opened in Paris, to mark its 40th anniversary in 2022. The title of the exhibition is borrowed from Charles Bukowski: it’s the story of a bluebird that always sings a little at night, in secret. Mircea Cantor and Miroslaw Balka will be taking part, as will Florian Pumhösl, whose work I’ve never yet spotted. Not far away, in Mor Charpentier‘s new space, I’ll be revisiting the work of Liliana Porter, born in Buenos Aires in 1941. I was interested in her miniature, playful and dizzying playlets at the Venice Biennale in 2017, then in the gallery’s former space on rue de Bretagne a few years later.

At Semiose, a gallery from which I don’t think I’ve missed many exhibitions in over fifteen years, I’ll be revisiting the paintings of Anne Neukamp, who exhibited in Paris in the early 2000s, and now teaches at the Dresden School of Fine Arts. I remember her paintings as elusive, enigmatic and critical, on the edge of a conceptual but always sensual approach. And then I’ll go to Galerie Suzanne Tarasiève to see an exhibition by Ann Wenzel, whose ceramic works first impressed me in an exhibition by Daria de Beauvais at Galerie des Galeries in 2012.

There are also plenty of young artists I’d like to be surprised by over the next few days, such as Laura Garcia Karras, born in 1988, at Anne-Sarah Bénichou: I’m curious about her depictions of nature, created by turns with a brush and a scalpel. Another new discovery at Ceysson & Bénétière is Stéphané Edith Conradie, born in Namibia in 1990. Her sculptures of found trinkets and uranium glass, which question historical displacement and identity, caught my eye. I wonder what the “supernatural glow” produced by this material under UV light looks like. Known for the historic artists it represents, the gallery is constantly reinventing itself in its many spaces in France and abroad. Stéphané Edith Conradie has been invited to stay at the gallery’s residence in La Chaulme, Auvergne.

The Gallery Weekend will also be an opportunity to visit Romainville on Sunday, in particular to see the exhibition prepared by Vincent Sator, De l’effacement de la figure humaine, featuring Renaud Auguste-Dormeuil, Djabril Boukhenaissi and Kelly Sinnapah Mary, as well as Raphaël Denis, Gabriel Leger, Éric Manigaud and Bruno Pélassy, and Alessandro Di Lorenzo, a recent graduate of the Beaux-Arts de Paris. And then, of course, there are all the doors we’ve pushed open to pleasant surprises.

  • Anaël Pigeat

Ses recommandations

Siri Derkert, Sara i fönstret, 1924, Unsigned, Oil on canvas mounted on canvas, 95.3 x 63.3 cm. Courtesy of the Artist and Andréhn-Schiptjenko. © Paulina Simon

Andréhn-Schiptjenko

Siri Derkert , Sweden

Mircea Cantor, Chaplet, 2007-2025, Wall drawing in typographic ink wall (in situ), variable dimensions, Pas de credit photo, Courtesy of the Artist and Dvir Gallery

Dvir Gallery

Miroslaw Balka, Marianne Berenhaut, Mircea Cantor, Florian Pumhösl

--

"bluebird"

Liliana Porter, Red Sand, 2021 - Courtesy of the artist and mor charpentier Paris.

mor charpentier

Liliana Porter , Argentina

"Almost There"

Anne Neukamp, Diplopia, 2025. Photo Eric Tschernow. Courtesy Semiose, Paris

Semiose

Anne Neukamp , Germany

"Mirror"

Anne Wenzel, Requiem of Heroism (monument II), 2010, Ceramic and wood, 45 x 63 x 58 cm, Courtesy of the artist and and Galerie Suzanne Tarasieve, Paris

Galerie Suzanne Tarasieve

Anne Wenzel, Otto Dix

--

"Anne Wenzel x Otto Dix"

Laura Garcia Karras, Oraison, 2024, Huile sur toile, 180 x 150 cm, Courtesy de l’artiste et Galerie Anne-Sarah Bénichou

Galerie Anne-Sarah Bénichou

Laura Garcia Karras , France

"Calisté"

Stéphané Edith Conradie, Klinkende Simbaal II, 2025, Assemblage d’éléments divers, Courtesy Ceysson & Bénétière

Ceysson & Bénétière

Stephané Edith Conradie , Namibia

Renaud Auguste-Dormeuil, Le Tourbillon de la Vie #01, 2013, Impression Lambda contrecollée sur aluminium, 120 x 150 cm, Edition de 5 ex + 1 AP, © Renaud Auguste-Dormeuil, Courtesy de l'artiste & galerie In Situ - fabienne leclerc, Grand Paris

galerie Sator

Renaud Auguste-Dormeuil, Djabril Boukhenaïssi, Raphaël Denis, Alessandro Di Lorenzo, Gabriel Leger, Éric Manigaud, Bruno Pélassy, Kelly Sinnapah Mary

--

"De l'effacement de la figure humaine"

Lalitha Lajmi. Performer and Child, 2015. Watercolor on paper, 21 x 14 inches. Courtesy of the Estate of Lalitha Lajmi and Gallery Art & Soul, Mumbai.

Galerie Anne Barrault

Lalitha Lajmi , India