Art Paris

BABEL

ART AND LANGUAGE IN FRANCE

by Loïc Le Gall

Babel – Art and Language in France

Babel – Art and Language in France is a themed visit through Art Paris 2026 that brings together 21 artists selected from the participating galleries and whose work explores the richness and, at times, the enigmas of systems of signs and linguistic structures in French contemporary art. According to Loïc Le Gall: “Some artists explore the material nature of letters themselves, whereas others examine the tension that exists between text and images, or tackle themes such as translation, the ambiguity of signs, the many and varied alphabets and the way in which words circulate across networks. The ensemble proves that art is a laboratory where the forms of language are observed and analysed, sometimes used in new contexts and often reinvented. Featuring creations that waver between figuration and abstraction, this themed visit is an invitation to rethink our relationship with words and symbols and the way in which, both individually and collectively, we construct and decode the reality of our surroundings.”

A catalogue presenting the work of each selected artist will be produced to accompany this themed visit and a panel discussion during Art Paris 2026 will provide further insight into these issues.

Selected Artists:

Juliette Agnel – Galerie Clémentine de la Féronnière
Joël Andrianomearisoa – Almine Rech
Jean Dubuffet – Galerie Jeanne Bucher Jaeger
Léo Fourdrinier – Galerie Les filles du calvaire
Fabrice Hyber – Galerie Nathalie Obadia
Isidore Isou – Galerie Patrice Trigano
Marcel Jean – Galerie Boquet
Mireille Kassar – Saleh Barakat Gallery
Elias Kurdy – Dilecta
Jean Le Gac – Galerie Françoise Livinec
MC Mitout – Galerie Claire Gastaud
Tania Mouraud – Galerie Claire Gastaud
Julie Navarro – Galerie Wagner
Sara Ouhaddou – Galerie Polaris
Laure Prouvost – Galerie Nathalie Obadia
Luca Resta – Yvon Lambert
Anne-Marie Schneider – Michel Rein
Ernest T. – Semiose
Camille Tsvetoukhine – Loevenbruck
Ben Vautier – Galerie Catherine Issert
Fabienne Verdier – Galerie Lelong

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^{Art historian and exhibition curator Loïc Le Gall has been the director of the Passerelle Centre d’Art Contemporain in Brest since 2019, having previously worked at the Centre National des Arts Plastiques and the Centre Pompidou from 2013 to 2019. In parallel, from 2018 to 2019, he was in charge of Bonnevalle, an initiative in favour of young artists based in Noisy-le-Sec. Since 2011, he has organised around fifty exhibitions in different venues around France and abroad, including solo shows by Reda Boussella, Michele Ciacciofera, Rafael Domenech, Alia Farid, Apostolos Georgiou, Fanny Gicquel, Han Bing, Nathanëlle Herbelin, Laura Henno, Hoda Kashiha, Liang Yuanwei, Caroline Mesquita, Hanako Murakami, Luiz Roque, Sean Scully, Achraf Touloub and Philomena Williamson, to name but a few. He is a regular contributor to contemporary art journals, books and catalogues.}

^{Loïc Le Gall © Damien Goret}

With the support of

The BNP Paribas Banque Privée Prize. A Focus on the French Scene (with prize money totalling €40,000) was jointly launched in 2024 by BNP Paribas Banque Privée and Art Paris. It rewards a living artist active on the French art scene. For its 3^rd edition, the winner will be selected from among the artists exhibiting in Babel: Art and Language in France curated by Loïc le Gall.

The winning artist will be selected by a prestigious jury made up of personalities from the arts who all share the common desire to support French creativity. Their name will be revealed during the opening ceremony of Art Paris 2026. This prize allows BNP Paribas Banque Privée to support an artist’s career and showcase how the artist’s gallery works to promote them and develop a wider awareness of their work.

By underlining the correspondences between works that are already part of the history of art and those produced by emerging artists on the French art scene, the prize also establishes a dialogue between different generations.

Jury members:

Fabrice Bagne, director of BNP Paribas Banque Privée in France, Valérie Duponchelle, journalist and art critic, Loïc Le Gall, guest curator at Art Paris 2026 and director of Passerelle, contemporary art centre in Brest, Christine Macel, heritage curator, Vera Michalski, president of Libella publishing group and the Jan Michalski Foundation, Alfred Pacquement, independent exhibition curator, Guillaume Piens, fair director at Art Paris, Floriane de Saint-Pierre, President of the Amis du Centre Pompidou