PARIS – A chance to shine for some, a real challenge to others, the PAD Art & Design fair in Paris demands mise-en-scène. This year, three approaches seemed to bring about success: a strong conceptual back story, an arresting centerpiece, or careful scenography that avoided overstatement. Several galleries heeded these rules of thumb with strong, inspired showings. Others did not, making for a well-sold but uneven 16th edition, with only occasional glimpses of the luster that makes a TEFAF or a Biennale des Antiquaires shine.
François Laffanour took prime position just inside the white pavilion, where the Tuileries’ bright midday sun gave way to mood-lit obscurity. The Paris dealer had rebuilt the idiosyncratic bedroom of a certain “Madame V,” an ensemble commissioned from the 1980s French design duo Elizabeth Garouste and Mattia Bonetti to fill the bedroom of a Moscow apartment in the early 1990s. When the owners moved, Laffanour bought the entire set. “Since it was a unique commission, with works adapted and custom-crafted for the clients, it made sense to create such an exhibition,” said the gallerist, who had added a cherry-blossom tree and the towering, long-legged fish sculpture “Iniziazione” by Aldo Mondino to the branch-like patinated bronze of the “Beaux Rêves” master bed, the tentacle curves of a plush red armchair and, overhead, Ingo Maurer’s immense dome lamp.
“I wanted to show that in the history of furniture, there are dreamlike moments of the baroque and the surrealist, which all are important for these pieces. There is almost even a Louis XV element. It has a floral side, an almost rustic side, there is a poetic side to it. And a good sense of humor,” said the dealer. The “Beaux Rêves” bed, a horizontal branch iron chandelier with glass flowers, and a mirror in an almost candy-like red-studded frame, had sold at prices ranging from €30,000 to €150,000 ($40,000-$200,000).
“I think there is a larger audience for this, a classic client base that wants something a bit different. Also, houses today are much more white-walled and minimalist. When you place a bed like this in the middle, it achieves something spectacular,” added Laffanour, whose only regret was that the room would not stay together. “It would have been great for a museum, as an exhibit of the 1990s. But nowadays, museums have little credit — and I don’t have time to wait.”
Across from Laffanour, Carpenters Workshop went for cool and grey-toned minimalism, with a landscape of hanging black knit lamps by Japanese designers Nendo, a playful reverse desk by Vincent Dubourg, and a bubbly couch and chair by Robert Stadler, the latter two priced €25,000 and €22,000 ($33,000 and $29,000), respectively. The gallery has been making a splash on the Paris design scene since it opened a 6,400-square-foot, three-story branch in the Marais last year, and at the PAD, the show-stealer was Mathieu Lehanneur’s “Daylight Dome” (2011), a 25.6 x 64.4 inch setting of dozens of fluorescent light rings. The gallery had sold a handful of the delicately imposing lamps, at the PAD and beyond, for €24,000 ($32,000) — and revealed that mega-collector François Pinault had recently acquired a much larger version as a special commission, at an undisclosed price.
Classic Scandinavian pieces sold well at Stockholm gallery Modernity’s booth, which marked its fourth year at the PAD and looked like the underground lair of a mad super-villain — one with exceptional taste in design. The faux concrete walls were, in fact, inspired by the architecture of Tadao Ando and the booth was set with several early, patent-applied Poul Henningsen lamps, an Otto Schulz sofa group, a Hans Wegner desk, Michael Young’s dizzying “Chinese Times” clock made of newspapers, and a seldom seen 1930s Frits Henningsen “High Back Wing Chair”, priced at €60,000 ($80,000).
“We always sell well here,” said Modernity’s Isaac Pineus, revealing that the gallery had parted with several armchairs, a rare 16-orb ceiling light by Ayala Serfaty, and a colorful red Fernand Léger tapestry woven in Aubusson by Gisèle Brivet, France’s only weaver to be designated a Master of the Art.
London’s FUMI made its first PAD appearance with a dark forest plywood screen by Zoé Ouvrier and Alex Hull’s much-noticed “Parabolic Cabinet” for Studio Silver Lining, the artist’s proof in an edition of eight, priced at €80,000 ($106,000). “It’s a labor of love. It’s takes a long time, about five months, to make one,” said Valerio Capo, co-owner with Sam Pratt of the Shoreditch gallery. “We’ve been selling well and we’ve met new clients. It’s a great ‘début’,” he added.
At Gabrielle Ammann, of Cologne, visitors were sizing up the “Fossil Table,” a single-piece resin cast by Studio Nucleo. The PAD lighting, too faint to show the table lit up across its air bubbles and geometrically distressed lines, did not do it justice. Still, at €90,000 ($120,000), it garnered a great deal of interest. “It’s a very big table, people have to measure. And not just inside the house,” noted a gallery assistant, hinting that lifting the 29.1 x 148 x 49.6 inch table up a flight of stairs would not be easy.
Modern and contemporary art was also well in evidence, with smaller paintings and drawings by Jean-Michel Basquiat appearing throughout, alongside a handful of Fernando Botero pieces, a “Brussels Tower” by Wim Delvoye, and at least three different sizes of Robert Indiana's “LOVE” sculptures, unavoidable at any fair blending art and design. Monaco’s Sem-Art Gallery offered an “Untitled” Donald Judd block and Ron Arad chairs. Sales in this sector appeared slower, though Barcelona’s Mayoral were negotiating over a life-size, sitting “Auto portrait” (2006) marble dust sculpture by Jaume Plensa, complete with the artist’s trademark alphabet.
A handful of dealers failed to make their booths much different from your average furniture store, while others went for over-the-top opulence. London outfit Francis Sultana’s mirror backdrop, glittering gold furniture and fur-covered chaises resembled the apartment of an '80s Miami drug lord, while Thoiry’s Galerie Minet Merenda managed to drown a sumptuous set of antique Chinese nature-themed screens in an overdone garden landscape with blandly decorative sculptures by Li Chen.
Click the slide show to discover the best booths and works from the PAD Art & Design in Paris.
This is a version of a story that first appeared on ARTINFO France.