The Bernier-Eliades Gallery is pleased to present Valérie Mannaerts’ solo show in Athens, on Friday, March 8, 18.00-22.00. The artist will be present at the opening.
Valérie Mannaerts (b.Belgium,1974) extends the medium of collage to include three-dimensional objects. Working with a variety of different materials such as wood, bronze, ceramics, textiles, papier-mâché and paper, the artist uses playful sculptural elements with hybrid, uncertain and contradictory forms, in order to create installations. Mannaerts explores the physiognomic qualities of things, the relation between organic and inorganic forms, the presence and autonomy of objects as well as the stories sedimented within them. Her work examines the borderline between image and object, focusing on the material world, the visual culture, physicality and states of consciousness.
Her works are characterized by artificial and natural forms, diversity of materials and exist equally within an aesthetic universe suspending the distinction between essence and appearance. The dynamic relationship between objects is expressed through a play with scale, layers, patterns and distorted dimensions, folding and arresting the flow of time in one moment.
As scales oscillate and materials remain faithfully unsettled, the works exist in a space of deliberate ambiguity, the threshold between object and image. Mannaerts manipulates the gallery space through the idiosyncratic positioning of diverse spatial objects, creating fields of tension and obscurity by asking viewers to decode the objects, looking back at themselves.
Recent solo shows of the artist include: Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels, 2013, Diamond Dancer, de Appel arts centre, Amsterdam, 2010, Blood Flow, Extra City, Kunsthal Antwerpen, Antwerp, 2010. Recent group shows include: Public Shelters for Private Experience, Hedendaagse kunst en architectuur langs de N16, project with Paul Robberecht, 2013, Found in Translation, Guiot House, Brussels, 2013, Kijken, herkijken, Herman Teirlinckhuis, Beersel,2013, In the company of humour, Lokaal 01, Breda, 2011,Het zelfportret, het huis en de seizoenen, Mu.Zee Kunstmuseum aan zee, Ostend,2011, Crossroads, Kunst im Tunnel, Düsseldorf, 2011.