SAC Exhibition | Reflection of Infinity – A retrospective exhibition of Val (1967-2016)

A retrospective exhibition of

Val (1967 – 2016)

 

at Art Centre Bldg., 1st – 2nd floor

SAC Gallery, Bangkok

21 January – 14 March 2021

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SAC gallery is proud to present a retrospective exhibition of Val (1967-2016) “Reflection of Infinity” in memory of the late French artist and the legacy of her artwork. This collection highlights the essence of Val’s life and career through a curated selection of works from 2007-2016. This solo exhibition is hugely significant as it includes the widest range of her works yet seen by the public and presents all of her important art pieces produced in Thailand.

Val had a deep bond with Thailand. She was one of the most renowned international artists to build her career here. Among her sculptures, denoted masterpieces will be shown in this exhibition – Conversation au parc II (2010), Ville fantastique II and Hide and Seek II (2011), Inéquilibre II (2014), Flying lovers II and Attraction III (2013) and, most excitingly, there are three to be shown for the very first time: Chaos (2016), Crossing the Ordeal (2016) and Wisdom (2016). Viewers may also recognise several works from public spaces in Bangkok: Ville fantastique II at Benjasiri Park, Attraction II at Alliance Française and Inle Balance III at Sofitel Bangkok. Interested collectors should note, several pieces are down to their last salable casting.

Val’s work has been classified by Artsper Magazine as one of the most significant among French sculptors of the past century, including her among names such as Auguste Rodin, Jean Arp, Germaine Richier, and Louise Bourgeois. Her sculptures utilise a unique sense of space with their curves and contrast. The weight of the bronze sculptures with gravity-defying light lines creates works of great tension and delicate balance. Her final collection of bronze and glass was produced alongside Murano’s glass masters in 2016, which will be also shown for the first time in Thailand in this exhibition. The mixture of durable and fragile materials is notable for achieving equilibrium and harmony in unexpected ways. In her work, voids are essential because they create the perfect visual rhythm that she sought to achieve in and with her sculpture.

Some of Val’s notable accomplishments include:

– The installation of Finding Soulmate II at the Time Square Building in Hong Kong in 2011

– The installation of three of her large sculptures including Inle balance III at the Sofitel Sukhumvit in Bangkok

– Her solo exhibition at the Art & Arch Museum in Taiwan, 2012, and the public installation of Waiting III at the New Square Tower in Taipei in 2014

Inéquilibre at the Skysuite Tower in Singapore

– Her exhibition at the Franco-Chinese foundation Yish8 in Beijing, China, entitled Anatomy of a Creative Path

– In 2015, winning the art section of the Trophée des Français de l’Étranger, awarded to her by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Paris

With the help of her husband, Frédéric Morel, Val then achieved the grand feat of installing Ocean Utopiaon the seabed of Koh Tao in Thailand. This introduced extinct coral reefs back into Koh Tao’s ecosystem through the addition of three monumental sculptures. The three sculptures were made up of bronze, marine concrete, and extinct coral.

In 2016, The Chinese Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing (CAFA) paid Val a rare tribute as a Western artist by organising a retrospective exhibition of her work, and its museum acquired Autoportrait and Eternal Pillars for the permanent collection.

Curator Linjie Zhou from SAC Gallery applies the philosophically significant essay from Val’s favorite poet and academic, François Cheng (“Five Meditations on Death: In Other Words … On Life”) to Val’s retrospective exhibition. These meditations each approach the human understanding of death from different yet intertwined perspectives, showing that death is a transition in a longer living process that we cannot see clearly in modern times. In this exhibition we contemplate the life of Val through the light of her passing. Being conscious of death gives fate its full meaning, because if birth is a seed, then death is the fruit — the last holy remnant of a life well lived.

 

For more photos, please download:   A retrospective exhibition of Val

 

For more information please contact:
Pota: charun@sac.gallery or tel. 0979466553
Belle: pinyaphat@sac.gallery or tel. 0802915145

 

Or

Tom Van Blarcom, TQPR Thailand

tom@tqpr.com or tel. 02 260 5820

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