Art Trends That Made Us Feel Some Type of Way at FIAC 2013 in Paris

The 40th edition of the fair brought more than art...it brought feelings.

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Image via Complex Original
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The Foire Internationale d’Art Contemporain (FIAC) art fair celebrates its 40th anniversary in Paris this week, on the heels of Frieze London, at the same time as Art Toronto, and a little over a month before Art Basel Miami Beach. Taking place at the Grand Palais, it attracts the world's billionaires, galleries, and art-savvy French people alike, who come to see work from 184 galleries from 25 countries. 

FIAC is different from other art fairs because it combines modern art, contemporary art, and art by emerging artists under the same roof (in contrast, Frieze separated itself into Frieze and Frieze Masters). It includes additional programming, like the Ouvertures/Openings performances, produced with the Louvre, the In Process young artists project produced by curator Mehdi Brit, Cinéphémère produced by Fondation d'entreprise Ricard, and the Carte Blanche artist film commissions at the Silencio.

FIAC is very cool and accessible in the setting of the majestic Grand Palais, and at the same time, there are very noticeable trends. Sometimes, there's nothing wrong with approaching art by how it makes you feel. Put the two together, and here are Art Trends That Made Us Feel Some Type of Way at FIAC 2013 in Paris.

Buy tickets to the fair on FIAC.com for Saturday and Sunday if you are in Paris.

RELATED: 10 Things We Learned at Frieze London 2013
RELATED: 10 Artists to Watch From The Other Art Fair 2013

Giant Sculptures

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Type of way: Small / Insignificant / Impressed

Being next to a giant sculpture, like a wooden KAWS Companion piece, is the surest way to feel small, but it's also the best way to examine craftsmanship, details, and the various kinds of sculpture being made today.

Ai Weiwei's Iron Tree appears at the entrance as the only piece in neugerriemschneide's booth. From afar, it looks like a tree, but up close, it is arranged with metal pieces. Jos De Gruyter & Harald Thys' De Drie Wijsneuzen dripped water, to the point where if you got too close, you would get a little splashed (see Vine below). Looking at giant versions, a rock, a woman's face, a tree, sunglasses, or a television may have you feeling many types of ways, and amused is allowed to be one of them.

Crashed Cars

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Music-Based Pieces

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Type of way: Happy you no longer own cassettes (they take up wayyy too much space) or tried to turn your vinyl collection into an art piece (it wouldn't have come close to this) / Unsure why Bruno Mars is being played at the fair, even via sculpture

Markus Oehlen's Freefidelity-Camp, in all fairness, was playing the radio, but there were a few WTF faces when Bruno Mars' "Treasure" started playing out of a giant, floating figure. Incorporating music in a more toned down way, Tom Burr's American Master record chamber and Gregor Hildenbrandt's Francesca Neri Kasten create new receptacles for music, which are interesting in a time of digital music, mp3s, and more importantly iPods and iPhones from which to play it all from.

If you need to hear Bruno Mars out of an Oehlen piece, then this Vine is for you:

Animals

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Broken Bodies

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Type of way: Creeped out / Like the art fair may have just become a horror movie

Bodies cut in parts (in wood, mannequin, or latex form), single legs, and ribs were all at FIAC. It's a standard art trend. It's one thing to see a dismembered animal, but it's another to see a dismembered human. Most of the time it's creepy and strange but still provocative and makes you realize that artists will never run out of ways to reinterpret humanity.

Books and Reading

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Love

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Alcohol Consumption

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Different Ways to See Yourself

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Type of way: Unsure of who you even are anymore

Frieze London, and many other fairs, have work so conducive to selfies that it seems planned. The same goes for FIAC, except these reflective works were a little trippier.

Koki Tanaka's Beholding Performer, Performing Beholder is a combined mirror/video installation piece that kind of makes you feel like you're both yourself and the guy in the video. Meanwhile Mona Hatoum's piece reminds you that You are still here, but it's a little more scary than whimsical upon experiencing it. The happy exception might be Michelangelo Pistoletto's Un Palloncino Rosso, where you feel like you can reach in and grab the red balloon...except of course you can't.

Experience LEROY's ripples below, which moves ever so slightly:

Clothes in Weird States

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