Associating such media as sculpture, video and painting, Valérie Blass seeks to create tension and dialogue between form and matter. This forces her to develop new techniques and to experiment with the possibilities and limitations of materials. With her sculptures, she deconstructs the borders between figurative representation and abstraction by inducing arbitrary comparisons and associations which undo hierarchies. At first glance, these abstract shapes may appear formalistic but a closer look quickly reveals them as anthropomorphic. The artist mainly works on themes such as posture, affectivity and the relation between a shape and its covering.
Blass had solo institutional exhibitions in Canada, United States and Europe. In 2012, Blass was commissioned by Public Art Fund New York for a yearlong group exhibition at the MetroTech Center and was selected to participate in the major survey exhibition, Oh, Canada – Contemporary Art From North North America at MASS MoCA. In 2013, Blass’ work was included alongside such artists as Abbas Akhavan, Nick Relph and LaToya Ruby Fraser in the exhibition Traces of Life (Berlin, Germany). The work of Valérie Blass was recently presented in parallel to the Istanbul Biennale at the Art International Istanbul fair, in a group exhibition curated by Geoffrey Farmer at the Art Gallery of Alberta and in a solo exhibition presented by Parisian Laundry Projects at The Hole (New York City). Valérie Blass was the recipient of the prestigious Martyn-Lynch-Staunton award, multiple awards from the Gala des arts visuels organized by the Association of Contemporary Art Galleries and the Prix-Louis-Comtois from the City of Montreal. She has upcoming solo shows in 2015 at Artspeak (Vancouver) and Daniel Faria Gallery (Toronto).
