For Art Rotterdam the artist Valérie Kolakis has produced a site-specific intervention in the public areas of the building using Petroleum Jelly (Vaseline) on glass, which is stenciled on with lace-patterned stencils. This links to the work in the booth of art gallery FOLD, which will also contain interventions within the space, as well as work that will alter the architecture of the booth itself.
The work of Valérie Kolakis is an exploration of architectonics in relation to issues of migration, displacement and change. The underlining themes behind her work are of subtraction, vacancy and the false reference in the urban landscape. Specifically, it is a conceptual investigation of how identity is constructed and subsequently constrained by society and its physical spaces. At the core of this is a questioning of the idea of biography.
Using industrially mass-produced ubiquitous materials, present in daily life. Her intent is to explore the imagery of the urban space and the transitory condition and what constitutes it through the use of poor and /or found materials. These materials will work against the authenticity of pure form, in order to fabricate work marked out by an ephemeral facet. In a sense, this is a rebuilding of an “object” and contradicting its function. Painted steel, rugs soaked in cement, plastic shopping bags, sheets of glass and various found materials will make up this work.
FOLD gallery New Art Section Art Rotterdam February 11th – Sunday 14th February www.artrotterdam.com www.foldgallery.com
