Summer lovin’: ToiletPaper’s psychedelic displays at Galeries Lafayette
The Galeries Lafayette flagship in Paris can feel like sensory overload under normal circumstances, let alone special ones. Hence extending an invitation to Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari of ToiletPaper – arguably among the few creative forces that could stand up to the stimulation.
Their takeover includes 11 pop-provocative, summer-themed vitrines facing Boulevard Haussmann, stagings throughout the store and 'TP-Rama', a surreal mise-en-scène within the department store’s Galerie des Galeries cultural space. Their most imposing installation of all, however, is the enormous Eiffel Tower under the wondrous and historic coupole. Brushing up against opposite sides of the lustrous, inflatable replica are two giant golden… eggs. Those familiar with the duo's God sculpture for Gufram, in which two eggs nest next to a giant green cactus, will note the resemblance. Here, however, with the city’s most defining feature as the centre point, they are contributing to the persistent question: is Eiffel masculine or feminine? Generally, people lean female – a grand iron dame with her legs wide; but Cattelan feels otherwise, describing the temporary sculpture as an homage to a ‘tombeur’, French for stud or player. ‘At a time when no one knows what gender is, it’s a man,’ he adds, blithely confirming to Wallpaper*, ‘It’s a dick’.
With that settled, a tour of the exhibition reveals vibrant vignettes featuring ToiletPaper’s product collaborations with Seletti and Gufram, all stacked and layered as if some super-fan had opted to live with little else. Their close-up saucy spaghetti motif provides an apropos backsplash in a kitchen complete with Seletti's dismembered tableware; the office area, best described as Mad Men on acid, includes a Gufram mock headstone that reads 'The End'. Interspersed among all the high-impact accessories are a few standout pieces from midcentury Italian furniture designer Osvaldo Borsani that the duo customised with their offbeat imagery. The round table in the living room boasts a pattern of rainbow serpents, for example. Like the glossy screens that debuted at FIAC, these additions show how ToiletPaper is evolving into more than a cult magazine.
Cattelan noted that they considered the space in the manner of an Ikea showroom, but that he couldn’t envision people living in a tricked out ToiletPaper home. 'One room, maybe,' he suggests. Indeed, if that’s the goal, all the non-furniture objects can be purchased at an adjacent concession.
Click above to watch the unveiling of one of the vitrines. Photography: Thibault Voisin
INFORMATION
’TP-Rama’ is on view until 10 September. For more information, visit the Galeries Lafayette website
Photography: Antonio Camera
ADDRESS
Galeries Lafayette
40 Boulevard Haussmann
75009 Paris
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
-
Maude’s Brâncuși-inspired sex toys go on display in a new Paris exhibition
Maude’s design-led vibrators are now on display at Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, as part of ‘Private Lives: From the Bedroom to Social Media’. Brand founder Éva Goicochea talks to Wallpaper* about partnering with the museum and opening up cultural conversations around sex
By India Birgitta Jarvis Published
-
‘I was captivated by the idea of merging two iconic brands’: Nigo on his collaboration with Moncler and Mercedes-Benz, which features a 1990s-inspired riff on the G-Wagon
Unveiled at Moncler’s ‘The City of Genius’ event in Shanghai this past weekend, Japanese fashion designer Nigo unpacks his three-way collaboration with Moncler and Mercedes-Benz, which includes a play on the G-Class alongside a fashion collection in his eclectic style
By Jack Moss Published
-
Cathay Pacific’s new business class Aria Suites take flight
Cathay Pacific raises the bar for business-class travel with the launch of the much-anticipated Aria Suites
By Lauren Ho Published
-
Miu Miu’s Women’s Tales film series comes to life for Art Basel Paris
In ‘Tales & Tellers’, interdisciplinary artist Goshka Macuga brings Miu Miu’s Women’s Tales film series for Art Basel Paris to life for the public programme
By Amah-Rose Abrams Published
-
Art Basel returns to Paris: here is everything to see and do
Art Basel Paris 2024 (18 - 20 October 2024) returns, opening at the newly renovated Grand Palais
By Amah-Rose Abrams Published
-
Elmgreen & Dragset explore contemporary masculinity in Paris
We visit Elmgreen & Dragset at their Berlin studio ahead of new exhibition ‘L’Addition’ at Paris’ Musée d’Orsay, a subversive take on the classical form
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Don’t miss Henri Matisse and Ellsworth Kelly at Fondation Louis Vuitton
Fondation Louis Vuitton present a series of works by Matisse and Kelly, celebrating the influence they had on the trajectory of contemporary art
By Tianna Williams Published
-
‘Who has not dreamed of seeing what the eye cannot grasp?’: Rencontres d’Arles comes to the south of France
Les Rencontres d’Arles 2024 presents over 40 exhibitions and nearly 200 artists, and includes the latest iteration of the BMW Art Makers programme
By Sophie Gladstone Published
-
Matthew Barney draws on a sporting horror history with video installation ‘Secondary’
Matthew Barney revisits a haunting memory of violence and spectacle in his first institutional show in Paris in over a decade
By Hili Perlson Published
-
Nicole Eisenman explores the dimensions of sculpture and painting at Hauser & Wirth Paris
Nicole Eisenman presents ‘with, and, of, on Sculpture’, her first retrospective at Hauser & Wirth Paris drawing inspiration from political challengers to ABBA
By Tianna Williams Published
-
Van Gogh Foundation celebrates ten years with a shape-shifting drone display and The Starry Night
The Van Gogh Foundation presents ‘Van Gogh and the Stars’, anchored by La Nuit Etoilée, which explores representations of the night sky, and the 19th-century fascination with the cosmos
By Amy Serafin Published