White Cube Paris is pleased to present ‘Rara avis’, a group exhibition curated by Jerry Stafford which brings together antiquities, artefacts and contemporary works of art sharing the subject of birds. Latin for ‘rare bird’, the exhibition title infers discovery and a sense of the wondrous or exquisite, but also intimates feelings of loss and lament. The curator’s lifelong fascination with ornithology is rooted in personal narrative; from the bird as a private symbol of escape from repression, to the myths of Icarus and Ganymede which colored his adolescent dreams and fantasies. Taking this as its point of departure, the exhibition explores the avian as messenger and polysemous signifier through selected works spanning different cultures and moments in time. Exhibited artists: David Altmejd, Michael Armitage, Julie Curtiss, Peter Doig, Jón Einar Björnsson, Tracey Emin, Max Ernst, Leonor Fini, Masahisa Fukase, John Gould, Noel Grunwaldt, Iris van Herpen, Gary Hume, James Merry, Joan Miró, Isamu Noguchi, Eddie Peake, Pablo Picasso, Ugo Rondinone, Pietro Ruffo, Victor Seaward, Raqib Shaw, Kiki Smith, Fred Tomaselli, Nicola Tyson, Nico Vascellari, Danh Vo; and Byzantine, Egyptian and Hellenistic antiquities, as well as artefacts from Nazca, Senufo and Valdivia cultures. | 
