For over 30 years, Brazilian artist Valeska Soares has used the tools of Minimalism and conceptual art
to create sculptures and installations imbued with emotion and humanity, that explore love, intimacy, and desire, loss and longing, memory and history. In her works, a range of found materials—including mirrors, clocks, glass, books, furniture, and flora—become charged with potential narratives, both personal and collective, blending the physical and the psychological, matter and thought. Desire is a central theme in her practice (as is the notion of folly), and her works entice by engaging all five senses. Her installations have harnessed perfume, decaying flowers, and alcoholic spirits to conjure experiences that shift perception and expectations. Many of her works evolve over time, establishing a thread that she embellishes and reframes through different contexts and emotional ranges. As Soares says, “Desire is like a vanishing point: every time you go toward it, it recedes a little.”
Robert Preece: You identify Mar De Rosas (1989), which juxtaposes an embroidered bedspread with an iron hook, and Untitled (from Fall) (1994), which contrasts marble, synthetic hair, and red roses, as early works that were important to your artistic development. How were they significant for you?
Valeska Soares: Materials have always been meaningful in my work. Mar De Rosas emerged from a rebellious period in my life. I was acquainted with professional artists dealing with heavy materials like welded metal. They thought artists needed to suffer and sweat. It was a very machismo environment, which I wanted to disrupt. . .
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