As befits this unconventional contemporary artist,
the new show at Paris's Centre Pompidou devoted
to Annette Messager is non-chronological, fitting
together a panorama of the artist's productions
that nevertheless sheds light on her continual
evolution as an artist. From the highly personal
works of the 1970s through large installation
projects in the 1990s and 2000s, Messager's
message – and medium – are constantly shifting
and growing. With the wide range of materials she
uses – stuffed toy animals and real, stuffed ones;
fabric; wool; photographs and drawings, to name
just a few – and the varied registers she works in,
Messager is a virtuoso of eliciting new sensations,
emotions and reactions to her art through
an apposite dose of the unexpected. Pop culture
and primitive art, the playful and the tragic:
dualities underlie her works, making them all the
more poignant in their subtle contradictions.

June 6 through September 17, 2007
Place Georges Pompidou
75004 Paris
T. +33 (0)1 44 78 12 33