Bangkok 101
  • TRENDING
  • PEOPLE, PLACES & BEYOND
    • PLACES & BEYOND
    • PEOPLE
  • COLUMNS
    • Joe’s Bangkok
    • Now New Next
    • Bitchin’ in the Kitchen
    • Kitchen Backstories
    • Eat Like Nym
    • Into the Hood
  • FOOD, DRINKS, ENTERTAINMENTS
  • ART, DESIGN & CULTURE
    • BAM! BANGKOK ART MAP IS ONLINE!
    • Bangkok Art Map Facebook Page
  • TRAVEL
    • Pattaya101
    • Hua Hin 101
    • Phuket101
  • MARKET 101
  • ABOUT US
    • ADVERTISING
    • CAREER
Top Posts
All Thai’d Up: Luxurious Thai Menu at Decanter
Escape to SO Sofitel Hua Hin for a...
Treat your Love to a Splendid Valentine’s Voyage...
Number 1 Gallery Presents ‘The Opera of Metafiction’
Escape to Five-Star Pimalai Resort & Spa on...
La Lanta Fine Art Presents Group Exhibition Featuring...
Centara Grand at CentralWorld Rolls Out ‘The Place...
Anantara Chiang Mai Resort Wraps Up Challenging Year...
Emirates takes A380 experience to new heights
Kathmandu Gallery Examines Race Issues in New Photo...
100 Tonson Gallery Presents ‘House Calls’ by Pinaree...

Bangkok 101

  • TRENDING
  • PEOPLE, PLACES & BEYOND
    • PLACES & BEYOND
    • PEOPLE
  • COLUMNS
    • Joe’s Bangkok
    • Now New Next
    • Bitchin’ in the Kitchen
    • Kitchen Backstories
    • Eat Like Nym
    • Into the Hood
  • FOOD, DRINKS, ENTERTAINMENTS
  • ART, DESIGN & CULTURE
    • BAM! BANGKOK ART MAP IS ONLINE!
    • Bangkok Art Map Facebook Page
  • TRAVEL
    • Pattaya101
    • Hua Hin 101
    • Phuket101
  • MARKET 101
  • ABOUT US
    • ADVERTISING
    • CAREER
TRENDING

Retrospective honours acclaimed French sculptor who called Bangkok home

written by Bangkok101 December 19, 2020

Some artists most fully realise their vision only when they uproot themselves from familiar environs and seek a fresh perspective. For the contemporary sculptor Valérie Goutard, a leap of faith propelled her from her home in France to Bangkok, and it was here that she created the works that now place her among the most important sculptors of the past century.

The late Goutard, familiarly and artistically known as Val, will be celebrated with a career-spanning retrospective beginning next month at SAC (Subhashok The Arts Center) in Bangkok. The exhibit, “The Reflection of Infinity,” highlights the essence of Val’s life and work in Thailand, and features the widest range of her work yet presented to the public.

A self-taught artist who began with clay, Val set up her studio in Bangkok in 2004, and showed her first works the very same year. In Val’s words, it was the combination of great freedom offered by Asia, along with the welcoming community, that helped her artwork gain critical acclaim in a short space of time. Around that time she also met her soul mate Frédéric Morel, who would become her husband and later her agent.

Chaos

Val’s sculptures are almost exclusively in bronze, and were forged by her team of Thai artisans in an Ayutthaya foundry, to the north of Bangkok. As notes for the SAC retrospective observe: “Her sculptures utilise a unique sense of space with their curves and contrast. The weight of the bronze sculptures with gravity-defying light lines creates works of great tension and delicate balance.” As Val herself said, her creations are a place where “fullness and emptiness dialogue together endlessly.”

The SAC exhibit is especially noteworthy in that it will present a number of rarely seen works, including three pieces that have never been shown in public before—Chaos, Crossing the ordeal and Wisdom—as well as a collection of Val’s unique glass and bronze sculptures Tenth Eonion Initiative, the result of a collaboration with the masters of ARS Murano in Venice.

Le Toit du Monde

Val’s works have been seen, and placed, all over Asia and Europe. In Bangkok alone, there is ample opportunity to view a number of Val’s pieces in situ right now. Her Bangkok landmarks include:

  • Ville fantastique II, located in Benjasiri Park (a gift from the artist and her husband to the city of Bangkok)
  • Attraction II, at Alliance Française
  • Inle Balance III at the Sofitel Sukhumvit

Beyond the city, in the south of Thailand lies Val’s spectacular Ocean Utopia, off the coast of Koh Tao island. Ocean Utopia, painstakingly installed on the ocean floor in 2016, entrances scuba divers and snorkelers with its towering humanlike figures that now have taken on colourful coats of shells, algae and coral shoots, just as the artist intended.

Ocean Utopia

“The Reflection of Infinity” retrospective invites the public to trace Val’s artistic journey, and marvel at her gift of locating balance, poetry and fragility within each of her works. It is also a testament to the inspiration and freedom she felt living and creating in Thailand, and reflects her deep affection for the country and its people. At the 2019 unveiling of her work Attraction II, Dr. Jingjai Hanchanlash, Alliance Française president, summarised as much, declaring that “Val was born as a French, but died as a Thai.”

Val’s upcoming retrospective will be at SAC (Subhashok The Art Center), beginning on Jan. 20 and running until Mar. 14. (Collectors should take note that several pieces in the exhibit are down to their last salable casting or edition.)

Follow SAC for further announcements: https://www.facebook.com/sacbangkok/

Portrait of Val 2016

Retrospective honours acclaimed French sculptor who called Bangkok home was last modified: December 19th, 2020 by Bangkok101

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email
artbangkokexhibitionWhat to do in Bangkokwhat's on
0 comment
0
Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest
Bangkok101
Bangkok101

previous post
Kiti Panit breathes new life into century-old general store in Chiang Mai
next post
National Thai Artist Thawan Duchanee immersive exhibition now underway at ICONSIAM

You may also like

Craving Mexican Food? Taco Fest Bkk Now Underway

November 5, 2020

Exclusive “Baan Nok Kao Khrung” Chef’s Table This Weekend at MRMH Studio

November 17, 2020

Escape to SO Sofitel Hua Hin for a Romantic Valentine’s Weekend

January 21, 2021

Fruitfull Serves Up Weekend Dining Series at Historic Jim Thompson House Museum

October 22, 2020

Circle of Friends Beach Weekend in Hua Hin

October 27, 2020
Hot Gold Exhibition

Ananta Kama Gallery Presents “Hot Gold” Exhibition

August 31, 2020

Escape to Five-Star Pimalai Resort & Spa on Koh Lanta

January 16, 2021

Ai Weiwei’s First Solo Exhibition in Thailand at Tang Contemporary Art

November 7, 2020
Ruen Urai promotion

Welcome back to Ruen Urai

July 9, 2020

Number 1 Gallery Presents ‘The Opera of Metafiction’

January 17, 2021

Michelin* Chefs Joe and Saki of 80/20 fishing in Koh Libong

Read the latest issue of Bangkok 101 Online Now!

Bangkok101 Mar-Apr 2020

Bangkok 101 Magazine Archive

Bangkok101 magazine archive

Follow Us

Bangkok 101 Magazine

Book Your Next Trip

About Us

  • Work with us
  • Subscribe to the magazine
  • Contact us
  • Advertise with us

Sign up for our newsletter

Keep in touch

Facebook Twitter Instagram Email RSS

© Copyright 2016 - Bangkok101 - developed by Webmajors

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.