Valérie Blass

Valérie Blass (born 1967) is a Canadian artist working primarily in sculpture. She lives and works in her hometown of Montreal, Quebec, and is represented by Catriona Jeffries,[1] in Vancouver. She received both her Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Fine Arts, specializing in visual and media arts, from the Université du Québec à Montréal. She employs a variety of sculptural techniques, including casting, carving, moulding, and bricolage to create strange and playful arrangements of both found and constructed objects.[2]

Valérie Blass
Born (1967-12-10) December 10, 1967
Montreal, Quebec
NationalityCanadian
EducationUniversité du Québec à Montréal
Known forsculpture
AwardsGershon Iskowitz Prize, 2017

In a 2011 article in the Canadian magazine The Walrus, her practice of sculptural assemblage was compared to artists such as Marcel Duchamp and Louise Bourgeois.[3] Her work has been collected by the National Gallery of Canada, Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, the Royal Bank of Canada, and several other private collections.

Theory and Practice

Collage

Blass relies on the process of collage in her works, focusing on materials that have a relationship either formally or conceptually to bring new meaning out of the objects through their correlation.

Doubling

Doubling in Blass’ practice diverts the viewer’s attention from the object as it is to the relationships it has with a similar object. Blass distorts the second sculpture using a myriad of approaches; One of the approaches that is used in Blass’s doubling is using the same texture for two sculptures and creating a figurative and abstract relationship.

“The double turns up repeatedly in my work: the idea of two things with the same shape and the same motif and then a different shape with the same motif. My motivation is about wanting to use material over which I don’t have too much control, but material that will give me some object and some shape”[4]

Continuation of Discontinuity

Blass’s practice challenges the idea of a complete “form.” She approaches to the challenge through purposely deconstruct, then reconstruct and reconfigure in an unexpected way. She states that she does not think in advance and is open to contingency that occurs during the process[5].

Notable exhibitions
Valérie Blass, 2014, Aires Libres, rue Sainte-Catherine, Montréal

Solo exhibitions

2019

  • The Mime, the Model and the Dupe, Oakville Galleries, Oakville, Canada; Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin, Ireland

2015

  • My Life, Artspeak, Vancouver; Daniel Faria Gallery, Toronto, Canada

2014

  • Théâtre d’objets, Parisian Laundry, Montreal, Canada[7]

2013

  • Parisian Laundry Projects ,The Hole NYC, New York, USA[8]

Galeri Manâ, Istanbul, Turkey

Illingworth Kerr Gallery, Alberta College of Art and Design, Calgary, Canada

  • The manipulator manipulated

La Chambre Blanche, Quebec City, Canada

2012

2011

  • PETIT LOSANGE LAQUÉ VEINÉ, Parisian Laundry in Montreal[10]

2009

  • Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art in Toronto in 2009.[2]

Group exhibitions

Blass' work has been presented in several notable group exhibitions, including the inaugural Québec Triennial at the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal in 2008,[11] Nothing to Declare: Current Sculpture from Canada at The Power Plant in Toronto in 2009,[12] Oh, Canada, a major survey of contemporary Canadian Art at MASS MoCA in 2012.[13] and It is What it Is, an exhibition featuring recent acquisitions of contemporary Canadian Art at the National Gallery of Canada in 2010/2011.[14]

In 2015, Blass presented new sculptural work featuring sculptural busts, distorted mirrors, and casts of human limbs in an exhibition titled My Life at Artspeak,[15] Vancouver before travelling to the commercial gallery Daniel Faria,[16] Toronto.

Awards

Further reading
  • Johnstone, Lesley; Amelia Jones; Wayne Baerwaldt; Valérie Blass (2012). Valérie Blass. Montreal: Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal. ISBN 9782551251414.
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References
  1. "Catriona Jeffries". catrionajeffries.com. Retrieved 2015-11-05.
  2. "Valérie Blass Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal". www.macm.org. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
  3. Henderson, Lee. "Valérie Blass". The Walrus. The Walrus. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  4. Enright, Robert, and Meeka Walsh (December 2019). "Inspirational Embodiments: The Incomparable Sculpture of Valérie Blass". Border Crossing. Retrieved 2020-03-02.
  5. "Inspirational Embodiments". bordercrossingsmag.com. Retrieved 2020-03-04.
  6. "Valérie Blass - CV - Catriona Jeffries". catrionajeffries.com. Retrieved 2020-03-04.
  7. "Théâtre d'objets - Parisian Laundry". parisianlaundry.com. Retrieved 2020-03-04.
  8. "PARISIAN LAUNDRY @ THE HOLE NYC - Parisian Laundry". parisianlaundry.com. Retrieved 2020-03-04.
  9. "Ghada Amer, Valérie Blass and Wangechi Mutu Exhibitions at the MAC Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal". www.macm.org. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
  10. "Petit losange laqué veiné - Parisian Laundry". parisianlaundry.com. Retrieved 2020-03-04.
  11. "The Québec Triennial 2008 Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal". www.macm.org. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
  12. "The Power Plant - Nothing to Declare: Current Sculpture from Canada - 2009 - Exhibitions – The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery – Harbourfront Centre". www.thepowerplant.org. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
  13. "MASS MoCA Museum of Contemporary Art presents: Oh, Canada in our Galleries on through April 8, 2013". www.massmoca.org. Archived from the original on 13 January 2013. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
  14. "My Life | Artspeak". artspeak.ca. Retrieved 2015-11-05.
  15. "Valérie Blass". Daniel Faria Gallery. Daniel Faria Gallery. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  16. "Valérie Blass is a Gershon Iskowitz Prizewinner! - AGO Art Matters". AGO Art Matters. 20 November 2017. Retrieved 28 November 2017.
  17. "Valérie Blass". www.fondation-nelligan.org. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
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