In 1990 Air de Paris was established in
Nice by Bonnefous and Merino, who had attended the École du Magasin in
Grenoble together. In 1994, the gallery relocated to Paris, first at a location on rue des Haudriettes. Alongside other galleries including
Almine Rech and
Galerie Perrotin, Air de Paris moved to spaces on Rue Louise Weiss in the
13th arrondissement in 1997, as part a city-sponsored initiative. In 2019, Air de Paris joined forces with three other galleries (Jocelyn Wolff, In Situ Fabienne Leclerc and Sator), a public institution Le Plateau frac île de france and Fiminco Foundation to open spaces in Komunuma, an four-building arts complex in
Romainville. The name "Air de Paris" was a tribute to
Marcel Duchamp and his
"ready-made" 50cc of Paris Air. At the beginning, there was Les Ateliers du Paradise with Philippe Perrin, Pierre Joseph and
Philippe Parreno.
Paul McCarthy,
Lily van der Stokker and
Jean-Luc Verna, among others, participated to the reputation of the Nicean formula. Air de Paris represents established practicing artists such as
Liam Gillick,
Claire Fontaine, and
Trisha Donnelly, historically important artists such as
Guy de Cointet,
Dorothy Iannone and
Allen Ruppersberg, and emerging artists such as
Eliza Douglas and
Aaron Flint Jamison. Air de Paris also represents the photographic work of Michel Houellebecq since his large survey exhibition at
Palais de Tokyo in 2016. ==Artists==