Monumental bronze sculptures take over REDSEA Gallery with an exhibition titled Presence from 10 October to 2 November 2014. The exhibition is the latest in Singapore by French artist Val featuring 37 bronze sculptures, which pay hommage to the powerful notion of existence, or presence.  

The collection of contemporary sculptures continues Val’s narrative on the inspiration behind her art. Life and all its expressions find a way into her work as she carefully crafts her bronzes into pieces of sculptural poetry. Val has successfully injected a lightness of being into a metal known for its density thus creating a liberating balance between the material she works with and the emotions she feels.

Each of Val’s sculpture is a powerful affirmation of the presence of life. In the piece Paternité (Fatherhood), for example, the work speaks about the bond, the trust between father and child, offering a window into and a portrait of that special moment. The sculpture, Une Vie (A Life), is a piece that meditates upon a life lived full of dreams and quests, hardship and suffering, questions and expectations. Drawing on her own experiences, Val created the large-scale sculpture, Attrait de la liberté (Attractiveness of Freedom), a work measuring 220cm in height. The work references her youth, a time when she felt the need to be in a linear race to always outdo her own achievements each time. But today, her quest is in the fulfillment of freedom, nourished by the idea of alternating between fullness and emptiness and constant renewal.

Val’s mastery of her material and technique has allowed her to create work of varying scale and proportion, from fine and delicate works that convey an intimate presence to powerful, monumental pieces that make bold statements. But the recurring presence of the human figure, always amidst a larger structure gives voice to Val’s constant questioning about the human condition in the immensity of the universe.