New York — Directly following Frieze, Ashley joined Thea and Ethan in Paris for FIAC. Once again, FIAC was very strong fair, and the presentation of booths was even better organized by relocating the “younger” galleries to the second floor of the Grand Palais. A highlight was Pablo Bronstein’s large architectural structure, a pissoir, at Franco Noero. Time spent on a cold and rainy day at the sculpture exhibition the Jardin de Tuilleries was well worth the discomfort if only to see the sculpture created by Adrián Villar Rojas, an artist we first saw and admired at the Venice Biennale.

As for museum shows in Paris, Edvard Munch, which we previously mentioned, andMartin Szekely retrospectives at the Centre Pompidou were very impressive, and again proved that monographic exhibitions are the best way both to discover new work and to expand and deepen one’s knowledge about an artist’s oeuvre. The exhibition of Fra Angelico at the Musée Jacquemart-André was refreshing and reminds one that the world of art has a long and compelling history.

It was also fun to see explore the Belleville neighborhood in the northern part of the city, an area which hosts several up-and-coming galleries, such as Balice Hertling and Gaudel de Stampa. The AAS team also enjoyed being in town for Pablo Bronstein’s new limited edition book launch at Christophe Daviet-Thery (Thea and Ethan also published a portfolio with Pablo 2009), as well as Liam Gillick’s video and editioned furniture/object installation at Air de Paris, which was stunning and a show one would not to have wanted to miss.