Valeska Soares: After

VALESKA SOARES
After
April 29 – May 25, 2008 | 11 Rivington St, NY

Eleven Rivington is pleased to present After, an exhibition of new works by Valeska Soares on view from April 29-May 25, 2008.  The exhibition will include installation works and related collages that are part of a larger and ongoing series.  A native of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Soares has lived and worked in New York since 1992.  Her work has been included in the 51st Venice Biennale (2005), the Taipei Biennial (2006), and will be presented at the upcoming 28th São Paulo Biennial (2008).  After marks a very special moment, as it will be Soares's first full-scale solo exhibition in a New York gallery.

The works included in After evoke themes of desire, memory, and love in its many permutations – from familial to romantic.  Three works will be on view in the main gallery.  Duet is comprised of two white marble pillows.  Sculpted into the surfaces of the pillows are indentations and signs of use that allude to an untold story that the viewer is invited to imagine.  Love Stories is an ongoing publishing project of books that contain the word love - in five different languages - in their titles. For the occasion of her show at Eleven Rivington two new collections comprising 250 books have been published and will be set into a visually rhythmic display upon two shelves. Each book is a unique publication that includes the title, author, and exact number of pages of a book found in the real world.  However, the original story within each book has been removed.  Guided by the book’s title, the viewer may project his or own story of love onto the blank space of the pages. Afterimages is a series of twelve photographs printed on canvas that allude to a more solitary meditation on time’s passage.  The images are views of clouds and sky that Soares photographed at different moments from her backyard garden.  The number of photographs - twelve -refers to the months of the calendar year.

On view in the rear section of the gallery will be collages made from dedication pages found within numerous books.  Assembled into recognizable formal structures (such as a pyramid or oval) the pages that comprise the series of works For To tell of love and gratitude.  Other collage and assemblage works by Soares record occasions of indulgence.  Sugar Blues and After Party are assembled from containers of sweet delights that include cake boxes, cake stands, and wrappers.

Soares lends a sense of theatricality to a minimalist aesthetic language that includes elements of serialization and repetition within three-dimensional space.  But, rather than merely implying the viewer within the installation, Soares activates the viewer’s presence by generously inviting him or her to envision a new history within the space of the works presented.

Born in 1957 in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Soares has lived and work in Brooklyn, New York since 1992.  Her works are included in important museum collections such as the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C., the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY, and the Tate Modern, London, U.K. Solo exhibitions include After, Galeria Fortes Vilaça, São Paulo, Brazil (2007), nar-cis-sus, Galeria Fortes Vilaça, São Paulo, Brazil (2005), Follies, The Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York (2003), Puro Teatro, Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City (2002), Vanishing Point, Galeria Camargo Vilaça, São Paulo, Brazil (1998).