Paris Photo Los Angeles just celebrated its third US edition with thousands of visitors (more exactly 20,000) and celebrities visiting the art fair at the Paramount Pictures Studios. The three-day event lured stars like Jamie Lee Curtis, Gwyneth Paltrow, Drew Barrymore, Judd Apatow and James L Brooks, among many others who enjoyed the work presented by 79 galleries from 17 countries.
Paris Photo LA celebrates artists from around the world offering them a medium to expose their photography and moving images in their work in the 20th and 21st centuries.
In 2011, BMW founded the BMW Residency which through the France organization is providing the space and support for emerging, talented photographers to produce and showcase their work at art fairs throughout the world. This year, BMW was proud to present artists Mazaccio & Drowilal, and a glimpse of their work “Wild Style,” and their new series, Antépisode, made in California.
The France-born Elise Mazac and Robert Drowilal formed a photography team in 2006 by sharing same interests and appreciation for Conceptual art, cinema and American and Japanese photography. In a private galleria, the two artists exhibit to art collectors and lovers their Wild Style collection of images of animal life on various figures and objects meant to reify animal life in a way that renders the gap between reality and its representation in contemporary culture imperceptible.
Since technology and art are often intersecting, they created Antépisode, a project which investigates the roots of IT and digital companies in Silicon Valley, California, with a particular focus on intangible and abstract lines of codes which have created some of the most popular websites and mobile applications we use in our daily life.
Google was also represented in the work of Mazaccio & Drowilal, through an installation titled “Don’t Be Evil”, the company’s old slogan when they were set on changing the world. The work includes emojis juxtaposing photographs and a hamster wheel cage that represents the fun work culture at Google, and the demanding and time consuming work imposed by the tech giant.
Most of the galleries were displayed in the Paramount’s New York City, a movie set built to resemble the Big Apple, including a subway entrance, buildings resembling skyscrapers, if filmed at the right angle, and brownstones as seen in Soho.
At the 2015 Paris Photo LA, BMW was also the automotive partner providing VIP shuttle service in the luxurious 7 Series.
The BMW team moves back to NYC this week as a cultural and automotive partner of Frieze Art Fair. BMW present Frieze Sounds, a program of sound works that are premiered in the BMW 7 Series shuttle service at the fair.
For more than 40 years now, the BMW Group has initiated and engaged in over 100 cultural partnerships worldwide.
