My Paris by Juergen Vespermann

Juergen Vespermann has been a long-time member of Fresno’s Spectrum Gallery and has participated in numerous one-person and group shows in Germany and California.

This May 2025 exhibition, titled ‘My Paris’, represents photographs from Juergen’s two-month stay in one of his favorite cities in April and May 2024, prior to the Olympics being held there.

Hunting for interesting architectural locations takes one sometimes into areas of cities a person wouldn’t necessarily visit otherwise, exposing you to parts of a city not many people visit (e.g. Cretoil southeast of Paris, Noisy-le-Grand, east of Paris) otherwise. And that’s OK, if it doesn’t turn into good photography, but just a new or different traveling experience and view of the city. 

In addition to Juergen’s architectural photography, he likes to discover the urban street art scene that’s unique in every city. Paris has a lot to offer in this constantly changing art scene. Very often beautiful pieces disappear overnight to be replaced by new art. 

One of those artists is “Invader” who started in Paris in the 1990s. Ceramic tile mosaics modeled on the pixeled art of the 70s and 80s 8-bit video games numbering over 1,000 just in Paris and in 79 cities all over the world. Even the Pink Panther is one of his subjects in Paris.

Other artists who are known beyond Paris and are shown in this exhibit include ‘Vinie’, ‘Swed Oner’, ‘Zeth’, Cannibal Letters’ and ‘LéZarts’. The southeast of Paris, on the left banks of the Seine, has an especially vibrant street art scene, called Art13. One Saturday afternoon, I witnessed a street art event with hundreds of people watching artists and painting on road structures while having a big BBQ. 

Juergen hopes you enjoy ‘his view’ of the City of Light/Love/Art and Architecture. A notebook will be out at the gallery for visitors to leave notes. Juergen would love to hear people’s thoughts on his show.