Partial view of exhibition room for Philemona Williamson's Lopsided
© Entrée to Black Paris

It's been over a year since I published an Art and Food Pairing™, where I couple a visit to an art exhibition with a visit to an African / African diaspora restaurant.  I hope you enjoy this one!

Thanks to Phyllis Hollis, creator of the Cerebral Women podcast, I learned about the Semiose Gallery and Lopsided—an exhibition of paintings by Philemona Williamson.

Semiose is a contemporary art gallery located at 44, rue Quincampoix in the 4th arrondissement, about five minutes walk from the Centre Pompidou.

It can be found in a courtyard that is accessed after walking past through a passage flanked on the left by the Centre Wallonie Bruxelles and on the right by an ominous work of art by the Belgian sculptor Félix Roulin (1979) that depicts bodies emerging from a decaying wall. 

Semiose Gallery - signage on rue Quincampoix
© Entrée to Black Paris

Semiose - courtyard entrance
© Entrée to Black Paris

The gallery is spacious.  Visitors will find all but one of Williamson's nine paintings in its first room.

First exhibition room at Semiose
© Entrée to Black Paris

Five works by Philemona Williamson
© Entrée to Black Paris

Three works by Philemona Williamson
© Entrée to Black Paris

The ninth painting, which appears to be the largest of the works in the show, hangs in a private space near the rear of the gallery.

Painting by Philemona Williamson in office
© Entrée to Black Paris

Lopsided is on display along with an exhibition of much larger works (The Nature Poem) by Laurent Proux.  You cannot fail to see them when you wander toward the back of the gallery to catch a glimpse of Williamson's ninth work.

I was disappointed that no information about individual works (name, date of creation, media used) was displayed.

I wanted to learn more about the work that depicts two girls astride a merry-go-round pony.  They appear to be framed by vibrant purple sunflowers.

What look like almost amorphous hand puppets frame the face of the bare-breasted girl who appears to survey whomever is in the exhibition room.  

 Painting by Philemona Williamson
© Entrée to Black Paris

I did not have much time to peruse the works, and the staff person who appeared to be responsible for greeting visitors remained engaged in an intense conversation with a gentleman visitor the entire time I was there.

English- and French-language versions of a press release about the exhibition were available to the right of the gallery entrance.

Books from Semiose's series entitled Corpus Painting were on display in the second room of the gallery, which is where the reception area is located.

One of these books is devoted to Williamson.

Corpus Painting Philemona Williamson
© Entrée to Black Paris 

The sixth volume of the collection, Corpus Painting Philemona Williamson presents 30 of the artist's paintings.  Presumably, the nine works on display in Lopsided are among them.

Williamson has a fascinating story, having spent the first several years of her life in the sumptuous NYC apartment of a family that hired her parents as domestic workers.  Her experiences growing up with this family, which included teenage girls who treated Williamson like their little sister, influence the art she creates today.

Adrienne L. Childs, Senior Consulting Curator at the Phillips Collection, describes Williamson's work as "fragments of memories and fantasies that form their own compelling yet destabilizing universe."

Semiose represents Williamson in Paris and has previously shown her work in a solo exhibition called The Borders of Innocence in 2023 and a group show called The Minotaur's Daydream in 2023.

Lopsided will be on display through October 11, 2025.

Semiose
44, rue Quincampoix
75004 Paris
Gallery hours: Tuesday-Saturday from 11 AM to 7 PM and by appointment
Metro: Hôtel de Ville (Line 1), Châtelet-Les Halles (Lines 1, 4, 7, 11, 14), and Rambuteau (Line 11)

Listen to Williamson's interview with Phyllis Hollis on Cerebral Women HERE.

And come back to the ETBP blog next week to read about Big Black Cook—an Afro-Caribbean restaurant about a 10-minute walk from Semiose.

Entrée to Black Paris published its first Art and Food Pairing™ article in February 2011.