Benjamin Valenza
05 Jun - 17 Jul 2010
BENJAMIN VALENZA
“Man with Objects”
5 June - 17 July
Claudia Groeflin Galerie is proud to present its first solo show with the French artist Benjamin Valenza (*1980, lives and works in Lausanne).
For the exhibition titled, Man With Objects, Valenza will focus on his most recent Acid Paintings and sculptures.
Benjamin Valenza’s forms of expression are multifaceted, ranging from more traditional forms such as sculpture, painting and drawing, as far as to video and installation works. Furthermore, Valenza composes poetic writings and performs interpretative lectures, whereby each work references the others. Formal decisions as to colors, shapes and signs fuse with daily anecdotes, stories, discussions and thoughts, which Valenza processes conceptually. With this “daily metaphysics” the artist creates metaphorical fragments of abstract observations, which he expresses as poetry, for instance through his ongoing exchange of postcards with his imaginary interlocutor, Josef Hannibal, or even directly onto the surfaces of his sculptures.
In a further step, Valenza interprets his poetic writings in a performative act, compressing and animating the open space between his concrete works. To facilitate this method, the artist uses sculptural implements created for this purpose. The word becomes discernibly present by way of its articulation, providing a connecting element of physicality between the individual works.
For Benjamin Valenza, the moment of ultimate consolidation can be found in his Acid Paintings. Painted with lucid colors and hand-processed with acid, the metal panels embody the primary situation in which an artist finds himself at the initial point of creation. Titles such as Ionian Blue against Copper shed light on the artist’s debate with his subject and materials. The Acid Paintings serve as a backdrop for the interpretation of the symbols presented to the viewer, and are therefore essential forms in Valenza’s practice.
Benjamin Valenza graduated from the Ecole cantonale d’art de Lausanne (ECAL) in 2007, and in 2006 founded the renowned exhibition space Galerie 1M3 in Lausanne.
His works have been shown in numerous national and international exhibitions, such as Art Since the Summer of 69 in New York, Fluxia Gallery in Milan, Vegas Gallery in London, Musee Cantonal des Beaux-Arts in Lausanne, and most recently at the Istituto Svizzero Milano.
“Man with Objects”
5 June - 17 July
Claudia Groeflin Galerie is proud to present its first solo show with the French artist Benjamin Valenza (*1980, lives and works in Lausanne).
For the exhibition titled, Man With Objects, Valenza will focus on his most recent Acid Paintings and sculptures.
Benjamin Valenza’s forms of expression are multifaceted, ranging from more traditional forms such as sculpture, painting and drawing, as far as to video and installation works. Furthermore, Valenza composes poetic writings and performs interpretative lectures, whereby each work references the others. Formal decisions as to colors, shapes and signs fuse with daily anecdotes, stories, discussions and thoughts, which Valenza processes conceptually. With this “daily metaphysics” the artist creates metaphorical fragments of abstract observations, which he expresses as poetry, for instance through his ongoing exchange of postcards with his imaginary interlocutor, Josef Hannibal, or even directly onto the surfaces of his sculptures.
In a further step, Valenza interprets his poetic writings in a performative act, compressing and animating the open space between his concrete works. To facilitate this method, the artist uses sculptural implements created for this purpose. The word becomes discernibly present by way of its articulation, providing a connecting element of physicality between the individual works.
For Benjamin Valenza, the moment of ultimate consolidation can be found in his Acid Paintings. Painted with lucid colors and hand-processed with acid, the metal panels embody the primary situation in which an artist finds himself at the initial point of creation. Titles such as Ionian Blue against Copper shed light on the artist’s debate with his subject and materials. The Acid Paintings serve as a backdrop for the interpretation of the symbols presented to the viewer, and are therefore essential forms in Valenza’s practice.
Benjamin Valenza graduated from the Ecole cantonale d’art de Lausanne (ECAL) in 2007, and in 2006 founded the renowned exhibition space Galerie 1M3 in Lausanne.
His works have been shown in numerous national and international exhibitions, such as Art Since the Summer of 69 in New York, Fluxia Gallery in Milan, Vegas Gallery in London, Musee Cantonal des Beaux-Arts in Lausanne, and most recently at the Istituto Svizzero Milano.