iMaison Européenne de la Photographie (MEP)Le Marais
David Gilbert — Apparitions
The first French solo exhibition of American artist David Gilbert, gathering fifteen years of work at the intersection of photography, sculpture and installation: studio-built assemblages of paper, fabric and found objects photographed as fragile, twilight-lit tableaux.
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Preview: written before the show opened
Most of what you see in these pictures no longer exists. David Gilbert builds small sets in his Los Angeles studio from paper cut-outs, draped fabric, string and found objects, photographs them as the last daylight comes through the windows, then takes them apart to make the next one.
This is his first solo show in France, fifteen years of work in the MEP Studio. The museum lists paper castles, translucent curtains, unstable structures and erotic drawings, and calls the sets "a miniature theatre emptied of its actors". Writing about his 2024 survey Flutter in Winston-Salem, Aperture's Evan Moffitt found "a Vermeer-like quality" in his window pictures, and the MEP leads with one of them, Window Frame. You are looking at the only record of each set. Paris is dark before five in December, so this is where the sunset runs until 8pm.
The Studio is included in the MEP ticket: €13 on site, €14 online, €8 reduced, free under 12. Thursdays run to 10pm.
Editor's pick
Paper, fabric and found objects arranged in his studio, photographed in the last daylight, then taken apart. Aperture found "a Vermeer-like quality" in the window pictures. His first solo show in France; it includes erotic drawings.
Look for
Window Frame (2023)
The image the MEP leads with: a window lit so hard that Aperture found it difficult to tell negative from positive, solid from air.
Hereafter (2021)
Look for checkered wallpaper that Aperture likened to the floors in old master scenes of domestic life, given depth by natural light and shadow.
Good for
- Evening Visits
- Locals Who've Seen It All
With kids
Under-12s get in free, but the MEP says the show includes erotic drawings.
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Image credits
9
- David Gilbert — Apparitions© David Gilbert
- Fragments of Paris: Jacques Villeglé and Urban Art© Fonds de dotation Villeglé, Adagp, Paris, 2026. Photo DR
- New Paris, from 1977 to the Present TimesChristo and Jeanne-Claude Foundation / Photo: André Grossmann
- Mungo Thomson: Monument© Mungo Thomson. Courtesy l'artiste, galerie frank elbaz, and Karma.
- Maison Européenne de la Photographie (MEP)Mbzt, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Musée Carnavalet – Histoire de ParisMiguel Hermoso Cuesta, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Musée Cognacq-JayCVB / Wikimedia Commons
- Lafayette Anticipations - Fondation Galeries LafayettePhilouSunshine, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
- Musée national Picasso-ParisFrançois de Dijon, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0