News that the pop superstar, and budding artist, Britney Spears is having her first solo show in a small gallery in southwestern France has put the world’s media in a spin. Galerie Sympa sparked the frenzy last week by posting an exhibition announcement on Instagram, saying: “We’re thrilled to announce that we will be opening @britneyspears first solo show in a contemporary art gallery on Saturday 18 January from 6 to 9pm #artsyfartsy #sometimesyoujustgottaplay.” The accompanying image showed a painting by the Toxic pop star which was auctioned for charity following the Las Vegas mass shooting in 2017. Asked if the show was genuine, however, and which works by Britney would go on display, the gallery co-director, Jean Colombain, told us: “We won’t answer your questions. Indeed, we only work with journalists who come and visit our shows in the flesh.” We also reached out to Spears’ agent—no response as yet—but her publicist told the BBC that “there is no truth to this [story]”. Meanwhile, Galerie Sympa’s Instagram feed, which appears to be overseen by the artist Cédric Fargues, keeps pumping out Britney-related facts and pics. We’re on tenterhooks meanwhile for the Saturday launch.
UPDATE (20 January): According to the newspaper La Dépêche du Midi, a single work by Spears is on show at Galerie Sympa—the pop singer's painting which was auctioned for charity following the Las Vegas shooting in 2017. Colombain says he bought the work from its current owner (the floral piece was reportedly bought by the journalist Robin Leach the same year).