The KEIT Sisters

Isabelle Keit-Parinaud : It’s a family adventure because Adeline and I co-founded the fair with my husband Blaise Parinaud, who’s an art dealer. Along with his partner Nicolas Plescoff, he directs Galerie Messine on Rue de Penthièvre in the eighth arrondissement. His father André Parinaud was an art critic and the editor of the weekly magazine Arts. Meanwhile, our father Philippe Keit is an artist-painter. He studied at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Lyon. As for me, I started out organizing events, particularly in fashion working for the trade show Prêt-à-Porter Paris.

Adeline Keit : I started my career at the French communications company Publicis before working as an art director in small start-ups where I was free and creative.

Isabelle Keit-Parinaud : It was meeting Joel Garcia, a respected fair veteran, with whom we partnered up in 2007. After helping us launch the fair, he left us the reins and we continued on our own with my husband’s support. I’m mostly in charge of strategy and development while Adeline is responsible for the fair’s communication and everything that encompasses. But no decision is made without the agreement of all of us.

Adeline Keit et Isabelle Keit-Parinaud : It was in flux. The FIAC had let go of an important core of historial Parisian galleries like Baudoin Lebon who suddenly found themselves without a fair to participate in. We arrived offering them a complementary alternative that would give them visibility during this strategic art week. So it came about naturally that the fair positioned itself towards modern and classical contemporary art in order to distinguish it from the other satellite fairs at the time that were presenting emerging art.

Isabelle Keit-Parinaud : The aim was to give it a younger, more contemporary image whilst retaining our positioning by incorporating a reference to modern art in the name. We want to reach a wider base of collectors and this new name lends a more international dimension.

Adeline Keit :Our idea was to maintain a very twentieth-century artistic line. We’ve become one of the oldest fairs in Paris; out of all the fairs that were founded and gradually disappeared, we’re still here! However, it was time to renew the fair by adopting a new identity that resembles us more.

Adeline Keit : We’ve had to reduce the number to nearly 60 compared to more than 100 before the Covid pandemic. This post-Covid period is quite anxiety-inducing with the war in Ukraine and all the protests in France which makes organising such an event all the more challenging. We wanted to take advantage of that in order to propose a new artistic direction and a more intimate format that our exhibitors and visitors are very pleased with.

Isabelle Keit-Parinaud : We’re supported by an artistic committee made up of collectors and art professionals with whom we examine each gallery’s application. There are numerous criteria such as which fairs the gallery has participated in, which artists it has represented during the year and the quality of the hanging.

Adeline Keit : We mainly have secondary market galleries, from the ever faithful such as Galería Jordi Pascual from Barcelona and Munich’s Galerie Jeanne to new participants such as P Gallery Sculpture from Athens and Rosenberg & Co from New York in collaboration with 1831 Art Gallery from Paris. Some exhibitors have a solo show with a particular artist, such as Galerie Berthéas which is presenting the Russian painter Léon Zack. Galerie 208 as well as Dumas and Limbach Fine Art are focusing on the French painter Claude Viallat. Meanwhile, Jaf Gallery from Bordeaux is showing André Marfaing’s paintings in juxtaposition with Bernar Venet’ sculptures. We also have several contemporary art galleries – Modern Shapes, LKFF Projects and Art22 Gallery from Belgium, Italy’s Boesso Art Gallery, Slotine from Paris and Galerie Capazza from the Loire region – as well as Lélia Mordoch who is presenting kinetic art.

Isabelle Keit-Parinaud : Our guest of honour is Stefano Trapani, the Italian designer and architect, who has designed our entrance hall. His work will also be on view in a special space. We’re also very happy and very proud to be exhibiting the photos of Olivier Goy who has been diagnosed with [motor neuron disease]. Proceeds from the sales of his photos will be donated to the Paris Brain Institute. There’ll be other exhibitions to discover too.

Isabelle Keit-Parinaud : What’s magical is that there’s only one aisle. So there’s a clear path to follow which makes for a fluid and pleasant visit with the same level of visibility for each gallery.

Isabelle Keit-Parinaud : It’s the French Touch! Very Parisian and chic without being snobbish. Installing ephemeral pavilions along the Avenue des Champs-Elysées, in the public space, to create an artistic and cultural event aimed at everyone, that’s our DNA. The location opposite the Grand Palais means we’re close to all the biggest market players, auction houses, palaces and Avenue Matignon which has become so attractive and dynamic with the arrival of many international galleries.

Isabelle Keit-Parinaud : We’ve seen the revival of the Right Bank which has become incredibly dynamic. Paris is increasingly attractive and holds a very important place in the international art market. Brexit was one of the reasons for this development. The arrival of Paris + par Art Basel is a further indicator of this.

Adeline Keit : Yes. Having one grandfather who was an antique dealer and another who was an artist made us both appreciative of art and beautiful things. Obviously, I have an enormous amount of works by our father. But I’m also a fan of kinetic art and drawings. I have small-scale works by Carlos Cruz-Diez and [Victor] Vasarely. I’m interested in small objects and small formats in which one can get lost easily, sometimes more than in a large painting. I have a lot of things everywhere – in the cupboards, under the bed… Whenever I can, I change the hanging and arrange things in cabinets of curiosity. I also really like artists from South Korea and South America, many of whose works I find poetic and minimalist.

Isabelle Keit-Parinaud : Absolutely, my husband and I are huge collectors. I love design and modern and contemporary art. And I like mixing things up. It’s funny because, talking to you, I realise that our collection resembles the fair that we organize!