.jpg) |
“The Thinker”
Valen Valero |
“Since
I had worked in factories and made parts of automobiles and had
worked on telephone lines, I saw a chance to make a sculpture in a
tradition I was already rooted in.” --- David Smith
Those words were said by the
American sculptor David Smith (1906-1965), who was a pioneer in
abstract and geometric sculpture, inspired by the works of Picasso
and Julio Gonzalez, who became progenitors of the so-called
assemblage, or sculpture made from various unrelated materials.
The
idea of working in a tradition in which an artist is alred “rooted
in” comes to mind with the 7th
solo show of Valen Valero, now on view at Renaissance Art Gallery.
One might say that the scumptural roots of Valero grew in the fertile
soil of the family business. The Valeros are engaged in electricity
distribution, managing the La Union Electric Company, which serves
the threr towns of La Union, San Juan, and Bauang. The young artist
thus grew up with an encompassing awareness of the presence and value
of electricity.
Not
surprising then that this show should be titled, and appropriately
so, “Electric Dreams.” Valero presents free-standing and wall
sculptures, paintings, and chairs, which are all imbued with an
imagination fired as it were by the concept of electricity. Making
its striking appearance and presence is the ubiquitous electric
meter, or what we call “contador.” A recording instrument of the
electricity consumed, it transcends its functional role and assumes
guises that lend unexpected surrealist tones. Like a previously
palpitating heart, it now lies, or hangs, inert within the jazzy and
jangly sculptural configurations of Valero.
The
free-standing works, “The Thinker” and “Electro Chemistry”
are, to my mind, stand-outs. With the sculptor’s playful but
logistical engagement with her materials, the viewer immediately
senses the empathy generated by the works’ references. “The
Thinker” is, as must be known to is an homage to the famous bronze
work of the French sculptor Rodin, A skulking over-life size figure
of a naked man, deep in thought, it was originally conceived as part
of Rodin’s “Gates of Hell,” a sculptural narrative of Dante’s
Inferno. In Valero’s own rendition of the subject, she assembles
various fragments of industrial materials, steely and metallic grids
and lattices and spangled wires, locked together, emblematic of a
human figure. The use of such materials – which one American
sculptor graphically described as “defeated” – derives from the
practice of the art movement known as “arte povera” or
impoverished art. A more dignified term that has been used is
“non-privileged” materials such as wood, paper, rags and stones.
Again, like her subject, Valero has done her own serious thinking how
best to animate her materials. In a witty gesture, she has seen fit
to append a shelf for coffeetable books, essential food for thought
for “The Thinker.”
The
sculpture “Electro Chemistry”, on the other hand, suggests an
ironing board, with sly overtones of electric consumption generated
by the presence of an electric meter. It conveys an authentic sense
of domesticity, itself a theme loaded with controversial
implications. Painted in sleek black, red, and white, the electric
meter this time looms less like a heart than a cranium or skull, the
brain recording and registering dark, diurnal activities.
Wall
sculptures or reliefs, such as “Voltage,” “Magnetic Flux,”
and “Electric Dreams” employ the collage technique, whether of
planes of wood or layers of metal grids. The result is always an
equilibrium of tension and repose, balance and asymmetry, with enough
improvisatory panache as to constitute a well-integrated piece.
By
her own admission, Valero has always been fascinated by chairs. As an
object, it is of enduring interest. As such, it would serve us well
to assess this piece of furniture so common as to elude its
significance.
In the book on the subject, authored by Judith Miller,
we read: “In Western culture the definition of a chair is a seat
with a back designed for a single person. This differentiates it from
a stool, which is backless, and also from benches, settees and other
forms of elongated seating intended to support more than one
individual. Chairs are invariably raised above the ground, usually
but not always on legs, and are also movable.” In this show, Valero
creates both chairs and stool, uniquely invested with her flowing
“appliques” consisting of fabric inscribed with the strangely
intriguing conflation of a multitude of congested alphabets and
numbers, intentionally unreadable and blending into a blur.
Interestingly,
the Miller book carries a foreword by the famed designer Terence
Conran, which is precisely addressed to designers like Valero:
“Chairs are not just for sitting on, and many are diabolically
uncomfortable because their designers have ignored the basic
principles of ergonomics. To me this is unintelligent design. A lot
of chairs have become indoor sculpture, and in many cases the
architects who have designed them have promoted their brand through
the design of their chairs – for example, Corbusier, Saarinen,
Eames, Alvar Aalto, Gio Ponti, Arne Jacobsen, Marcel Breuer and Mies
van der Rohe. Sometimes I think that you are unlikely to be a
successful architect or designer unless you have designed a classic
chair.” The public is now invited to judge if Valero has created
her own classic chair. Please take your seat.
Valero
is what one may call “an accidental artist.” Though she has
always painted as a hobby, her first interest was the culinary arts.
She graduated with a degree in Food Technology at the O.B. Montessori
College. But by a “brushstroke” of luck, a friend once saw her
paintings, liked them, and was able to sell them. She took active
part in joining many group exhibitions. In 2012, she even took up art
studies at the famed Art Students League in New York.
On
this her 7th
solo show, Valen Valero’s “electric dreams” have become a
reality.
Valen Valero: When “Electric Dreams” Become Reality By Cid Reyes
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
