Located at 25, rue de Penthièvre, in the famous “Golden Triangle” district, which stretches from Faubourg Saint-Honoré to Avenue Matignon, the Teodora gallery changed direction in March, in the person of Hanna Ouaziz. With Entropie, a street art exhibition featuring, among others, two painters postgraffiti Onsept & Tempo from the Nok collective, the young gallerist confirms her interest in urban art.
It’s no wonder that this former lawyer, now a curator in street art for almost five years, was transforming a disused shed into a street exhibition in 2016 at La Réserve Malakoff, and the event The Grand 8 co-assembled 50 artists around the theme of the cohabitation of the city, the man and the animal. Another major project, the Lab14, which consisted of the rehabilitation of an abandoned post office, turned it into an artists residence and exhibitions of immersive installations created in situ.
Accustomed to alternative projects, the philanthropist Hanna Ouaziz is, according to the philosophy of the poet and writer Friedrich Hölderlin, “the need to inhabit the world poetically”. Democratizing art through the choice of accessible themes and a daring presence – she contributed to the opening of the MAUSA, Museum of Urban Arts and Street Art, in the Jura in 2017 – is then its first concern, the second being helping emerging artists to develop their visibility.
In Teodora, Hanna Ouaziz thinks her programming so as to make young talents benefit from the influence of established artists. For her second exhibition Femme, je vous aime, she presents the work of the international sculptor Soria Jordi along with the perfect curves of Florent Boisard (FIAC 2018 Winner) or female portraits of Joachim Romain and JM Robert.
A program that, in many ways, follows the ambition of Gérard Hermet, President of the Teodora Gallery – named after the Byzantine Empress who reinstated the cult of images at the Council of 843, allowing the advent of European Renaissance. Marketing consultant in Germany, PhD in management science, author of various publications, board member of GFK, collector, he is passionate about art and supports the creation by leaving a tribune to the young generation of artists as well as the established ones. A reckless personality, who shakes the codes, to which Teodora’s artistic line echoes.
Emma Noyant
