Valérie Kolakis | DONE WITH OBJECTS BECAUSE THINGS TAKE PLACE

About

FOLD Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of new work by Valérie Kolakis, her first solo presentation in gallery.

The title of the show is taken from a text by Fred Sandback, where he is referring to assigning a certain place or volume with its full materiality, without occupying or obscuring it. Using industrially mass-produced and ubiquitous materials, present in daily life, Kolakis intends to explore the imagery of the urban space and the transitory conditions which constitute it.

This show uses sculptural works that confront our ideas of representation and reality through the exploration of domesticity, displacement and everyday objects. The underlying themes behind this project are of subtraction, vacancy and false references in the urban landscape. Comprised of elements that hint at unfinished or abandoned structures, the works in this show challenge our perception of movement within space.

With a nod to Minimalist and Constructivist aesthetics, the work will create an intervention within the space. Implying the idea of a non-existent presence, where an awareness that the rebuilding of an ‘object’ contradicts its function. These sculptures are hybrids; comprising of furniture (tables chairs etc.), or architectural features (a wall or a window), some made using found objects while others are constructed shapes that hint at the familiar.

Kolakis presents us with works that create pauses within the space, insirting a kind of non- existent presence; in a sense rebuilding an ‘object’ while also contradicting its function. The de-contextualization of materials presents an emptiness, where an uncertain quality exists, triggering a sense of displacement and transience.