A friend who was exhibiting her work of art at the Salon des Indépendants invited me to attend the grand opening. The exhibition was held at the Grand Palais, located just off the Champs-Elysées.
When I arrived, I was surprised by the number of people milling about on the sidewalk in front of the exhibition hall. There were hundreds of them! There were three exhibitions going on at the same time, but the entrance to the exhibit that I wanted to attend was not clearly marked. In listening to conversations around me, posing a question to one of the guards, and following some people who seemed to know where they were going, I was able to get into the grand hall.
Once I got into the Grand Palais, I had to figure out how to find my friend, the artist. The exhibition hall is vast!
To look for her, I decided to start from the northernmost side of the hall and work my way south. In my wanderings, I came upon a paper and cardboard sculpture of an astronaut by an artist identified as Bodoc (E).
Next to the sculpture of the astronaut was a sculpture of a swarm of sea jellies (jellyfish), but I forgot to note the title and the name of the artist.
I finally found my friend, Marites Van Vianen, on the south side of the building. She was exhibiting at an art space bearing her name. Other artists from the Philippines were showing their works in that space.
Bong Canuel was there. I have met him several times at the Village Suisse exhibition space in Paris.
He is pictured in front of his works wearing a hat that he painted and holding the Philippine flag. The hat displays a carabao, the national animal (a water buffalo) of the Philippines.
Aurea Calanog lives in Belgium.
Chelony Mercado created a four-panel work of art to hang on the wall and a work of art to wear.
Marievic Beaune illustrated the harsh life of a little boy carrying a jerrican of fresh water.
She also created this intriguing image of Marianne superimposed on a Philippine flag.
Tei Leonardo holds a lovely bouquet of flowers in front of her paintings.
The artists posed for a group photo. Most of the women wore lovely dresses, as is customary for them to do at exhibitions.
The exhibit continues through Saturday, February 22, 2025.
Salon des Indépendants – Art Capital
Grand Palais
7, avenue Winston Churchill
75008 Paris
For information about many of the artists featured in this blog, click here:
https://www.facebook.com/GaleryaTess.
