Valerie Keane
As proxies, they exude affect, carrying an air of self-consciousness and, at their core, a performative essence.
Her suspended works are carefully constructed from hewn layers of acrylic glass, metal, fibreboard, and mesh. These layers are then subjected to tension, clamping, binding, stress, and weathering, almost to their physical limits, giving rise to a dynamic interplay of form and texture. Stainless steel hardware and armatures serve as both adornment and functional skeleton, imparting a sense of order and structural integrity to otherwise fraught assemblages.
Drawn from a self-referential vocabulary of forms, and incorporating a minimal range of materials, emphasis is placed on shape and presence. Keane’s sculptures, with their stylized silhouettes, beckon to be seen and exhibited, becoming almost like living bodies or architectural fragments frozen in moments of deliberate poise.
These objects exist in a dual state of abstraction and semi-figuration, simultaneously formalized and implicated in meaning. A contemporary manifestation of corporeal existence, they embody the simultaneous loss of our private selves and the acquisition of our boundless, multi-faceted versions.
Valerie Keane was born in 1989 in Passaic, USA. She currently lives and works in New York, USA. Recent solo exhibitions include: Lomex, New York, USA; Dallas Contemporary, Dallas, USA; What Pipeline, Detroit, USA; Whitney Museum (with Bedstuy Love Affair), New York, USA. Group exhibitions include: C L E A R I N G, Brussels, Belgium; Ashes/Ashes, New York, USA; Galerie Maria Bernheim, Zurich, Switzerland; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA; Galerie Crèvecoeur, Marseilles, France; Mitchell Algus Gallery, New York, USA; 38 Ludlow, New York, USA; Bahamas Biennale, Mukwonago, USA; First Continent, Baltimore, USA; Le Manoir, Martigny Switzerland.
Selected Works
Exhibitions
Press
Curriculum Vitæ
Lives and works in New York, USA
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023
like a cluster of dust charged with an activity that decomposes it, Lomex, New York, USA
2022
Nature Angst, High Art, Paris, France
2019
EXISTENCE MACHINE, Lomex, New York, USA
2018
The desire to be everything, Dallas Contemporary, Dallas, USA
2017
The Shrine of Venus with Bailey Scieszka, What Pipeline, Detroit, USA
2016
Afterburner, The Enemy, & Skinsuit at the Castle, High Art, Paris, France
UBU NOIR, with Oto Gillen, LOMEX, New York, USA
2015
Acid Gambit, Bed Stuy Love Affair @ Whitney Museum, New York, USA
2014
All the Food is Poison, with Jeffrey Joyal, Bed-Stuy Love Affair, New York, USA
Spells to Protect Against Unkind, Important Projects, Oakland, USA
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023
MADE IN THE DARK, C L E A R I N G, New York, USA
Melvins: Never Say You’re Sorry, organized by Bob Nickas, Public Access, New York, USA
Homotopy Type Theory, curated by Eric Schmid, Centralbanken, Oslo, Norway
2022
Independent New York, LOMEX, New York, USA
Entre Centre et Absence, Loong Mah, New York, USA
QUEL JOUR SOMMES-NOUS? Tokonoma, Kassel, Germany
2021
Superamas, C L E A R I N G, Brussels, Belgium
A Faust(o)ian Bargain, Galleria Mazzoli, Modena, Italy
2020
Edenchrome For All, Ashes/Ashes, New York, USA
2019
CRUISE KIDMAN KUBRICK, Galerie Maria Bernheim, Zurich, Switzerland
The Opposing Shore, LOMEX, New York, USA
2018
Eckhaus Latta: Possessed, Whitney Museum, New York, USA
In Search of Sunrise, Galerie Crèvecoeur, Marseille, France
2017
Condo, High Art at Mitchell Algus, New York, USA
Eat Code and Die, LOMEX, New York, USA
Hutti, 38 Ludlow, New York, USA
Eric Schmid is an Idiot, Kavita B. Schmid x What Pipeline, Detroit, USA
2016
Ray Lighting Center, Bahamas Biennale, Mukwonago, USA
Under the Volcano, LOMEX, New York, USA
Mutiny in Heaven, First Continent, Baltimore, USA
Noir Dedans, Le Manoir, Martigny Switzerland,
2015
A Wasteland, LOMEX, New York, USA
Apartment (Mother Courage), New Theater, Whitney Museum, New York, USA
People’s Biennial, 10-01 44th Rd, Queens, New York, USA
Know any Good Jokes, Kavita B. Schmid @10-01 44th Rd, Queens, New York, USA
Group Show, Greene Naftali, New York, USA
These Are Not My Horses, James Fuentes, New York, USA
Tulipomania, Del Vaz Projects Los Angeles and Daniele Balice, Paris, France
Smokey’s Tassel, Bad Reputation, Los Angeles, USA
Fissure Fog, Signal, New York, USA
2014
Seau Banco Carbon, Bed-Stuy Love Affair x Tomorrow, New York, USA
Eternal September, Tomorrow, New York, USA
Haute Surveillance, James Fuentes at Basilica, Hudson, USA
Four Drawings of a Farmer, Bureau, New York, USA
Psycho-Somatic Addict-Insane, Interstate Projects, New York
Ever Y Thing Zen, Jancar Jones, Los Angeles, USA
The Grand Opening, Shoot the Lobster, New York, USA
2013
Turnkey of Forever After, Bed-Stuy Love Affair, New York, USA
Smiler’s Delicatessen, 0Dx x Times Square, New York, USA
2012
Ten Ten, Jason Alexander, New York, USA