Valeska Soares
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Biography
Valeska Soares (b.1957) was born in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, and from a young age, she was exposed to references from a variety of cultural milieus, including poetry, literature, film, psychology, and mythology. She studied architecture at Universidade Santa Úrsula, Rio de Janeiro; this training reinforced an interest in site specificity, with artworks that consider both contextual history and spatial constructs. The Brazilian art scene in the late-1980s and early 1990s catalyzed Soares’s artistic career in Rio and São Paulo, and in 1992, she moved to Brooklyn, NY, continuing her artistic education and career. From New York, throughout the 1990s and 2000s, her work has been positioned in multiple platforms, reinforcing the globalized art world’s questions of geography, cultural and national identity, discipline, and form.
Soares’s bodies of work are linked thematically, but deploy diverse strategies to address issues and concerns through materials, forms, and experiences. Utilizing tools of minimalism and conceptualism, her work embraces emotion and humanity, mining territories of love, intimacy, and desire; loss and longing; and memory and language. She has explored these elusive themes through a myriad of tactics, infusing objects such as mirrors, clocks, glass, books, furniture, and flora with poetics, narratives, and alchemy. The resulting artworks—paintings, sculptures, installations, videos, and audio experiences—morph the physical and the psychological, the body and the mind. In Soares’s refined visual language, reflective objects suggest reflective thinking, concealed images reveal unexpected mysteries, and accumulated words disintegrate linear narrative.
Desire is a central theme in Soares’s practice, enticing viewers though an engagement with all five senses. Her installations have included perfume, decaying flowers, or spirits; these works result in phenomenological experiences that shift perception and expectations. In her words, “desire is like a vanishing point: every time you go towards it, it recedes a little.” Another motif in her work is the transference of personal memory and collective history; the artist frequently re-purposes second hand objects that she considers charged by “the lives and memories [of former owners], becoming for a moment in time, part of those personal narratives as each one travels from subject to subject.” Canvases made of book covers convene and re-orient individual narratives; collections of empty antique cake platters or half-filled drinking glasses suggest rituals or celebrations that have been suspended in time. Soares’s art encourages the widest possible viewer experience, rejecting the idea of a singular reading or message. Describing this interest in unrestricted opportunities for engagement, she states, “what interests me is the surprise in how each person is going to perceive the piece. And even the same person, on different days—depending on the sun and the moon, a dream they had, how they woke up—the work is never the same.”
In 2018, a retrospective of Valeska Soares’s work was on view at The Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, Brazil. Her work was the subject of the major mid-career survey, Any Moment Now, at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, CA (2017), followed by the Phoenix Art Museum, AZ (2018). Previous surveys of the artist’s work have been presented by the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey, Mexico; The Bronx Museum of the Arts, NY (both 2003); and Museu de arte da Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Brazil (2002).
Other solo exhibitions include those presented at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT (2017); The Jewish Museum, New York (2015); Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City (2002); Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, La Jolla, CA (1999); Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, OR (1998); Laumeier Sculpture Park and Museum, Saint Louis, MO (1996); and the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, NY (1995). Soares has participated in the Lyon Bienniale (2022) and numerous other international exhibitions, including two Venice Biennales (2011, 2005); several São Paulo Biennials (2009, 1998, 1994); the Sharjah Biennial (2009); the Taipei Biennial (2006); the Liverpool Biennial (2004); inSITE San Diego/Tijuana (2000–01); and the Havana Biennial (1991).
Soares’s artwork is included in many private and public collections, including The Bronx Museum of the Arts, NY; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA; Dallas Museum of Art, TX; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA; Museum d’Art Contemporary de Barcelona, Spain; Minneapolis Institute of Art, MN; Solomon R. Guggenheim, New York, NY; Tate Modern, London, United Kingdom; Fundacion “la Caixa,” Barcelona, Spain; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.; Museu de Arte Contemporânea–MAC in São Paulo, Brazil; Museu de Arte Moderna–MAM, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Inhotim–Centro de Arte Contemporânea, Brumadinho, Brazil; Museo de Art Contemporáneo–MARCO, Monterrey, Mexico, and others. Soares has been the recipient of multiple grants and awards, including the Coordenao de Aperfeioamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) fellowship, Brazil's Ministry of Education; Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA, The Getty Foundation, Los Angeles; Ida Ely Rubin Artist in Residence Program, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge; Anonymous Was a Woman Award, New York; and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, New York.
Valeska Soares is also represented by Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel, São Paulo, Brazil.
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Exhibitions
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To Name a Place: Contemporary Landscape
23 June - 5 August 2022 New YorkParticipating artists: Miya Ando Luis Camnitzer Mel Chin Justine Fisher Coco Fusco Valeska Soares Ryan Trecartin Arnie Zimmerman Alexander Gray Associates presents To Name a Place: Contemporary Landscape, a group...Read more -
Valeska Soares
Broken Year 13 January - 26 February 2022 New YorkAlexander Gray Associates presented Broken Year, Valeska Soares’s third one-person presentation with the Gallery. Conceived as a calendar that marks the artist’s experience of the passage of time, Broken Year...Read more -
Valeska Soares
Acqua Alta 8 October - 28 November 2021 GermantownValeska Soares: Acqua Alta Germantown: October 8—November 28, 2021 Alexander Gray Associates, Germantown presented Acqua Alta (2019), an iterative installation by Valeska Soares. Acqua Alta draws its name from the...Read more -
South South
26 February - 11 April 2021 GermantownAlexander Gray Associates, Germantown presents South South, an exhibition that examines poetics of space and orientation in works by five Gallery artists: Ricardo Brey, Luis Camnitzer, Melvin Edwards, Regina Silveira,...Read more -
Between the Lines
11 September - 17 October 2020 New YorkAlexander Gray Associates, New York presented Between the Lines, a group exhibition of recent and historic sculptures and works on paper by Luis Camnitzer, Jennie C. Jones, Hassan Sharif, Valeska...Read more -
Valeska Soares
Ouroboros 2 - 25 August 2019 GermantownAlder & Co., 222 Main Street, Germantown NY 12526 Hours: Friday – Sunday 11:00 AM – 6:00 PM Valeska Soares creates poetic works that fuse and expand upon the languages...Read more -
Valeska Soares
Neither Here Nor There 1 November - 16 December 2017 New YorkAlexander Gray Associates presented Neither Here Nor There, Valeska Soares' first exhibition with the Gallery. The artist, who has lived and worked in Brooklyn since 1992, has maintained deep connections...Read more
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Public Collections
American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center, Washington, D.C.
Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas, Austin, TX
The Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, NY
Buffalo AKG Art Museum, NY
Burger Collection, Zürich, Switzerland
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburg, PA
Centro Galego de Arte Contemporânea, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation, Miami, FL
Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX
Daros Foundation, Zürich, Switzerland
Fundação Itaú Cultural, São Paulo, Brazil
Fundación “la Caixa,” Barcelona, Spain
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.
Instituto Inhotim, Brumadinho, Brazil
JP Morgan Chase Art Collection, New York, NY
Laumeier Sculpture Park, Saint Louis, MO
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University, St. Louis, MO
MINT Museum of Art, Charlotte, NC
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain
Museu Arte de Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, Spain
Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil
Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, Brazil
Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, São Paulo, Brazil
Museu Extremeño e Iberoamericano de Arte Contemporâneo, Badajoz, Spain
Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA
National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.
Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.
Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, Brazil
Progressive Art Collection, Mayfield Village, OH
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, CA
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
Tate, London, United Kingdom -
News / Events
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Luis Camnitzer and Valeska Soares
RAYUELA / El Orden Falso at Galeria Marlborough Madrid September 14–November 18, 2023Luis Camnitzer and Valeska Soares are included in a group exhibition, RAYUELA / El Orden Falso. Comisariada por Octavio Zaya at Galeria Marlborough Madrid, Spain.
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Valeska Soares
Movement: The Legacy of Kineticism at Dallas Museum of Art September 18, 2022–July 30, 2023Valeska Soares included in the group exhibition Movement: The Legacy of Kineticism at the Dallas Museum of Art in Dallas, TX.
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Valeska Soares
manifesto of fragility at Lyon Biennale September 2022–January 2023Valeska Soares is among the participating artists in the 2022 Lyon Biennale: manifesto of fragility.
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Articles / Reviews
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Dallas Museum of Art's ‘Movement' Explores the Evolution of Kineticism
NBC DFW15 October 2022 Experiencing kinetic art is as easy as turning on a lightbulb at the Dallas Museum of Art’s immersive exhibition, Movement:... Read more -
‘I Couldn’t Deal With the Social Life’: Why Artist Valeska Soares Decided to Leave New York for Her Native São Paulo After 30 Years
artnet News8 March 2022 After 30 years in New York, artist Valeska Soares made the decision last year to leave her adopted home and... Read more -
The 16th Lyon Biennale announces curatorial framework, participating artists, and institutional partners.
e-flux24 January 2022 Curatorial framework Curated by Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath, the 16th Lyon Biennale manifesto of fragility proceeds with the announcement... Read more -
Between the Lines
The Brooklyn Rail23 October 2020 “When I read between the lines the paper stares back at me telling that I haven’t wondered enough,” reads the... Read more -
Between the Lines
Artland10 September 2020 Jennie C. Jones anchors the presentation with two 2016 groupings of drawings from her ongoing series Score for Sustained Blackness.... Read more -
The 9 Most Intriguing Objects from Frieze New York
Design Milk19 May 2020 Frieze New York is an incredible annual art fair that is accessed by a scenic ferry up the East River.... Read more -
The Artists' Artists
Artforum1 December 2019 To take stock of the past year, Artforum asked an international group of artists to select a single exhibition or... Read more -
Berengo Studio brings a modern twist to the craft of Murano glass-blowing
Wallpaper1 July 2019 A showcase of the fruits of Berengo Studio’s labour, the inaugural edition of Glasstress took place in 2009 and has... Read more -
Reina Sofía Receives Major Gifts in Latin American Art from the Cisneros and Pérez Collections
Artforum12 March 2019 The Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros (CPPC) has gifted forty-five works by thirty-three contemporary Latin American artists to the Museo... Read more -
The Best Things We Saw in 2018
Phoenix New Times28 December 2018 If 2018 is any indication, art is flourishing in Phoenix. From gallery and museum shows to outstanding live entertainment, there... Read more -
My Influences: Valeska Soares
Frieze Magazine1 September 2018 Over the past three decades, Valeska Soares has produced a vast body of work, spanning various media in two and... Read more -
Alexander Gray Associates Now Represents Valeska Soares
ARTnews26 June 2017 New York’s Alexander Gray Associates has taken on representation of Valeska Soares, a Brazilian artist known for her pioneering work... Read more -
Critics' Picks: Valeska Soares
Artforum29 December 2005 This is, surprisingly, the first European solo show since 1999 by New York-based Brazilian artist Valeska Soares, whose installations offer... Read more -
Sculptures That Feel
ArtNexus5 January 2003 In her recent exhibition at Museo Tamayo, Valeska Soares (Belo Horizonte, Brazil, 1957; Soares currently lives and works in New... Read more -
Interview: Valeska Soares
BOMB Magazine5 January 2001 For over a decade, Brazilian-born artist Valeska Soares has consistently transformed neutral environments into works of art, but unlike most... Read more
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