Aaron Flint Jamison's 'Veneer' exhibition critiques art's role in gentrification at Air de Paris

Aaron Flint Jamison's exhibition 'Veneer' at Air de Paris in Romainville confronts the art world's entanglement with neoliberal gentrification through sculptural works that directly reference specific urban sites. The American artist presents cedar wood planks carved with miniature city plans, including the gallery's own neighborhood, a brownfield near Yale Union in Portland, and the Ghost Ship fire site in Oakland where 36 died in 2016. Jamison, who transferred Yale Union to a Native American nonprofit in 2020, explores art's complicity in urban displacement. A second installation titled 'GraDiva' critically engages Marcel Duchamp's readymade legacy through handmade cedar sculptures and glass panes referencing The Large Glass (1915–23), arguing that Duchamp's concepts parallel outsourcing and gentrification by diminishing artistic agency. The exhibition remains on view until December 9, 2021, at the gallery recently relocated to a designated Opportunity Zone in a former industrial area.