6 Things You Must See & Do During FIAC Art Fair Week in Paris

1. Palais de Tokyo presents two exhibitions for FIAC 2015. "I <3 John Giorno" presents a retrospective on the life and work of John Giorno. "Seul celui qui connait le désir" features new work by Ragnar Kjartansson (pictured above). Visit Palais de Tokyo Tuesday through Sunday from noon to midnight. 2.  Sterling Ruby's first solo exhibition are being shown at Gagosian across its two Paris galleries. See the artist's new "YARD" paintings (pictured above) at Gagosian Rue de Ponthieu. 3. Galerie Perrotin presents "Paulin, Paulin, Paulin" featuring the work of designer Pierre Paulin next to contemporary artists. 4. See Robert Montgomery's newest installation aptly entitled  'CHAPTER SIX IN WHICH WE SIT LIKE DOCILE CATTLE WHILE YOU USE THE AESTHETICS OF PUNK ROCK TO SELL CREDIT CARDS BACK TO US." The exhibition, presented by Galerie Nuke and ISTANBUL '74, explores the Montgomery's fascination with ecological and social concerns. 5. "Jack Climbed Up the Beanstalk to the Sky of Illimitableness Where Everything Went Backwards" at Almine Rech Gallery is a mini-retrospective of 12 works by painter and filmmaker Julian Schnabel. 6. Galerie des Galeries hosts the first solo exhibition of artist and filmmaker Alex Prager, best know for her photographs that draw on the drama of Golden Age Hollywood films. The exhibition features her most recent works, including her latest film, "Face in the Crowd."

Jeremy Kost's Fame Paintings On View in Paris

Jeremy Kost’s celebrity paintings–silkscreened on large-scale canvases from Polaroid images–are paired here with Polaroid facsimiles by Andy Warhol from the 70s and 80s. Both artists share an inquisitive lust to understand fame in all its dramatic guises and extravagant poses. Occasionally they share a subject–Liza Minnelli, Dolly Parton, Keith Richards–though Kost approaches these iconic individuals from a very different perspective. In some cases they are obscured or abstracted; occasionally disembodied, as with Madonna’s head, which appears to float on a sea of silver, or Grace Jones, who dissolves into a beautiful haze of flowers and tapestries. By translating his original photographs into these slick yet gritty canvases, Kost has given his unique vision a new sense of monumentality. In these works, which came from his Polaroid photographs, celebrity is both celebrated and complicated. We see the mobs of paparazzi themselves, clamoring for a shot, and the polarized finish of the paintings themselves is simultaneously glamorous and anti-glamor–just as Beyonce here appears both as a superstar and a sort of monster, caught in the camera’s flash. Like his forbearer Warhol, Kost is a participant in the world he depicts and also somewhat of a voyeur, diligently capturing all the madness and the romance of celebrity, all the while translating a sense of intimacy and access. Jeremy Kost: Always The Center of Attention will be on view until November 18 at Galerie Nuke, 11 Rue Saint Anastase, 75003 Paris, France