Art Events, Paris

Nothing Serious, Paa Joe, and a New Paris

By Shari Inessa

When Objects Begin to Speak

In Belleville, far from the polished codes of the Parisian art establishment, something quietly radical is taking place.

At Galerie Nothing Serious, the exhibition From Paa Joe to Paaris does not simply present works – it redefines the way we understand them. Running from late February through May, the show marks the return of the space after four years of absence, reopening with a statement that feels both intimate and expansive.

At its center is Paa Joe, the Ghanaian artist whose sculptural practice has long existed at the intersection of ritual, craftsmanship, and contemporary art. Known for his “fantasy coffins,” Joe transforms objects into narratives – vessels not only of memory, but of identity.

Here, those narratives take on a distinctly Parisian accent.

The Poetry of Form

A croissant. A pigeon. A PSG coffee cup. A bottle of wine.

Rendered in wood, lacquered with precision, and elevated to sculptural form, these objects oscillate between familiarity and dissonance. They are instantly recognizable, yet strangely displaced. In Paa Joe’s hands, they become something else entirely – symbols stripped of cliché and reassembled into myth.

What emerges is not a portrait of Paris as we know it, but a reflection of how it is imagined from afar. A city reduced to icons, then rebuilt through another cultural lens.

There is humor here, but also tenderness. A quiet intelligence that resists spectacle.

Between Ritual and Reinvention

To understand the work is to understand its origin.

The abebuu adekai, or “fantasy coffins,” are rooted in the funerary traditions of the Ga people of Ghana. Each piece is deeply personal, designed to reflect the life, profession, or aspirations of the deceased. They are not objects of mourning, but of continuation.

Paa Joe elevates this tradition into a sculptural language that moves seamlessly between worlds – from Accra to Paris, from ritual to gallery, from function to form.

Working alongside his son, Jacob Tetteh-Ashong, he continues to evolve this practice without losing its essence. The result is a body of work that feels both ancestral and strikingly contemporary.

A Different Kind of Space

That this exhibition takes place at Nothing Serious is no coincidence.

Founded by Juliette Seydoux, the gallery has always operated outside traditional frameworks – more studio than institution, more conversation than display. It is a space that privileges instinct over structure, where art is allowed to exist without over-definition.

In this context, From Paa Joe to Paaris feels perfectly placed. It does not ask to be explained. It invites you to look, to question, to reconsider.

And perhaps that is its quiet power.

To remind us that meaning is never fixed.

Only shaped.

Galerie Nothing Serious
6 rue de Vaucouleurs, 75011 Paris

UNTIL MAY 24th