In freezing temperatures with a light chilly wind, I walked briskly down a busy avenue in Paris. I wanted to get to see the Louvre before it rained and it was already starting to sprinkle. Bundled up to my nose with the scarf my Tita made for me (1 of like 10 :D!) I could still enjoy the sights of all the buildings and fashion stores in the vacinty. By this part of the day both of my cameras were running on the last ounces of batter juice. I had just seen the monument where BLANK was burried. A very patriotic and pretty in-Francean-blue park. Check the pics out here.
After quickly snapping some pics at the park monument I continued the walk and it was the word
Atelier surrounded by colorful shapes and designs of all types of abstract that drew my eye. The word just struck a chord like I have heard of that before, like I knew exactly what it was and I knew I had to ask what this place was. Had you asked my concisous mind in that moment I would of said Atelier is like an attic but filled with cool stuff. That's just what my instinct said. This place had a tunnel like entry, a tiny hall with a welcoming booth at the front and very busy walls, filled with art, design paintings memos, grafiti looking scribbles, flyers and all sorts of signs. I wasn't even sure where to begin to interpret, I don't speak French, however by this point in my trip I had found that if I read most of it I can gather what it is reffering to since after all I know Spanish very well and they both derrive from Latin. You'd be surprised how many French words are used in modern day America.
I ask the young Asian lady what this place is, in very broken and misunderstood english she said, gallery, I said, "Art Gallery? Free? How much?"
she said go upstairs...
from the entry upstairs looked a bit creepy, not well lit and tons of art plastered painted and collaged to all the walls, ceilings, floors, staircase and hand rails. I hesitated to go upstairs because as I passed her counter I felt a heave presence over my head kind of pushing down, but I examined the space and dismissed it as it very well could've been the dimensions of the space. It was about the size of a small dinning area but with a spiral cement and wood staircase right in the middle spiraling upward caving into a narrow tunnel... and so my clastrophobia kicked in.
An insecurity made me think of Henzle and Grettel... It looked curiously tempting, the door person was welcoming and pushy for me to enter, but it looked dark, I dont speak the language, it looked like I was standing at the only feasiable exit, and up until now the French had not been very warm to me.
But it looked amazing and fun, and that little fear that peaked in for a few seconds was dismissed at sight of such cool looking view and art surrounding me.. why not check it out? Two other solo individuals walked in and took their first step up the winding adventure so I followed up the stair case.
I walked into the first level and saw what appeared to be an art work space or very collagey raw in decor gallery, so reminecent of the attics where I used to take art lessons and create my art as a child. paint splattered on wooden floor, scraps here and there, pieces of wooden frames but with works properly hung in good lighting. This was a workshop seudo gallery exhibit.
Each floor in this tiny space hosted about 3-5 artist all sharing an open and winding space of about 7x15 feet give or take depending on their layout. They had paintings on the floor on tables on the walls stacked up, overlaying, haning from ceiling and every inch of walls and even corners. Every floor and every room and section was different. This was the coolest thing I've ever experienced. It was filled with emotions, feelings, color, patterns, textures, stories, expressions, perspectives, styles, and it was just amazing to walk through each of their levels and voyeristacally take this all in.
It was definately an inspiration and it opened my eyes to how I should continue practicing more forms of art. I love this and I hate that I have abandonded painting, collaging, scultpture etc. I felt that it is not suffice to just watch and admire art, I felt that I too wanted to contribute what is in my inagination and play with tools and textiles and gadgets and brushes and wet paint and bright and dark contrasts.
I wanted to get to talk to the artists that were there working, but ahhh the language barrier, so far at each story none spoke english but they did indicate that on the top floor there was an "American Woman" hehe. Score! I just hope this American Woman was a friendly conversational artist, otherwise I was screwed and wouldn't ever really find out more about this dynamic place.
Is it a gallery? Is it a social art experiment? Is it a workspace, a school, an institution, a club? How do you join, and do you have to be selected? Do you pay for a space or are they invites, do they rotate.
It felt like these artists had really made the space their comfy work home area.
As I arrived to the last floor I heard the Beatles blasting from a radio, I could tell it was an older sound system the speakers quality was different than the average mechanisim we hear now at days. I thought, "ha! thius French artists is into the Beatles" and I felt a familiarity when I heard the tunes I recognized.
Turned the corner walked in, greeted in French and she greeted me too, I asked if she spoke English and she said yes, I said great! Are you American?
Her name was BLANK and she greeted with an energetic smile. Lenon was playing and she noted that she lived in Dallas/Ft Worth when Lennon died.
Lennon's death came up 3 times during this trip. I had never really internalized how that had an impact in many artistic and revolutionary minded people across the globe.
She had been living in Paris for a few years now and explained how this is a community building.
It had started with a small group of artists just taking over an abandonded building and making it their workspace. They didnt pay taxes or had legally permission to be there but it picked up lots of people started gathering and visiting and gew in popularity. The city eventually got involved and took it away from them, forcing them to rent or buy the space. It is now a nonprofit type of facility that provides workshop space for artists and allows visiting hours open to the public free of charge X amount of times a week. Obviously if it were open all the time some of these exhibitional artists would probably get too interrupted and distracted from their creations and creative flow.
This was the coolest thing I had seen. This is the kind of shit I wanted to experience in this modern cosmopolitan foreign land!! This made my day, it beat the Louvre and Pompideu. This was real and more relevant to me, today. Not to say I didn't appreceate and admire the others. This little place took my mind exploring ideas and concepts of new ventures I hope to pursue soon.
I highly recommend to check out this place while in Paris if you're an admirer of art, human behavior, if you're into creative entrepenuer, social entreperenuer, non profit for the arts, art trends.
Bravo! Props to them for keeping this alive! Thanks for the awesome experience!
59 Rue de Rivoli, 75001 Paris
After Squat
www.59rivoli.org
