Reflection
February 6 - April 4, 2020
Galerie Nathalie Obadia 3, rue du Cloître Saint-Merri, 75004 Paris www.nathalieobadia.com
Valerie Belin's new series, entitled Reflection is consisting of eleven black and white images that was produced as part of her solo exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London (October 22, 2019 - August 31, 2020), several works from this series are today part of the collection of this prestigious institution. The exceptional photographic collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum has been a resource for the artist, whether it be photographs created by the Worsinger Window Service (or Worsinger Photo) - a New York firm that specialized in documenting shop windows and interiors - or Robert Brownjohn’s Street Level series focused on photographs of signs and typographies. The artist also refers to the work of Eugène Atget and of Walker Evans, the photographer par excellence of vernacular American culture, or even the photographs of Lee Friedlander. A shop window is presented as a small urban theatre open to the street where goods are displayed and staged against a backdrop of decor.
The shop window has always been a source of inspiration for Valérie Belin. In the early 90s, she first made photographs of jewelry and trinkets exposed in different shopping malls. Subsequently there came photographs of crystal vases and silverware (Verres I et Verres II, 1993-1994), photographs of glass objects and mirrors in several showrooms in Venice (Venise I, 1997), photographs of mannequins (Mannequins, 2003), and finally, photographs of storefronts in Luxembourg (Vitrines Luxembourg, 2003).
Born in Boulogne-Billancourt (France) in 1964, Valérie Belin lives and works in Paris (France). She graduated from the École Nationale des Beaux Arts de Bourges (1983–88) and gained a DEA (the equivalent of a Master of Advanced Studies) in Philosophy of Art at the Université Panthéon-Sorbonne in Paris (1989). Valérie Belin also participated in numerous significant solo exhibitions (selection 2007-2019) : Painted Ladies at the 50th edition of les Rencontres d’Arles (France, 2019), China Girls at the Multimedia Art Museum of Moscow (Russia, 2019), Valérie Belin : Méta-Clichés (traveling exhibition in China) at Three Shadows Photography Art Center (Beijing) and at SCôP (Shanghai Center of Photography) in Shanghai and at the au Chengdu Museum, (China, 2017); Valérie Belin at the Institut Culturel Bernard Magrez in Bordeaux (France,2017); Surface Tension at the DHC/Art Foundation, Phi Center, in Montréal (Canada, 2015), Les Images intranquilles at the Centre Pompidou in Paris (France, 2015), Illusions of Life at the Multimedia Art Museum in Moscow (Russia, 2014), O ser e o aparecer at the Casa Franca-Brasil in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil, 2011), Hungry Eyes at the FotoMuseum Provincie in Antwerp (Belgium, 2011), Valérie Belin: Made-up at the Peabody Essex Museum in Essex (USA, 2009), and Correspondances at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris (France, 2008), the Musée de l’Élysée in Lausanne (Switzerland, 2008), the Maison Européenne de Photographie in Paris (France, 2008), and the Huis Marseille – Museeum voor fotografie in Amsterdam (The Netherlands, 2007).
Works by Valérie Belin can be seen in leading private and public collections, such as in France those of the Centre Pompidou – Musée National d’Art Moderne, Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Fond National d’Art Contemporain, Bibliothèque nationale de France, FRAC Limousin, Franche-Comté and Ile-de-France, MAC/VAL, Maison rouge, Fondation Antoine-de-Galbert, Musée Galliera ; in the United States, at the MoMA –Museum of Modern Art (New York), LACMA – Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Los Angeles), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (San Francisco), Norton Museum of Art (West Palm Beach), International Center for Photography ; in the United-Kingdom, the Victoria & Albert Musem (London), in Switzerland, the Kunsthaus Zurich (Zurich) and Musée de l’Élysée (Lausanne); in Luxembourg, le MUDAM - Musée d’art moderne Grand-Duc Jean ; in the Netherlands, at the Huis Marseille (Amsterdam); in Australia, the National Gallery of Australia, (Melbourne) Parkes ACT (Canberra); and in South Korea, at the National Museum of Contemporary Art Korea (Seoul).
Image credits:
Fox Chase Antiques (Reflection), 2019, Pigment print back-mounted on Dibond and framed with non reflect glass (non treated UV) Framed: 68 29/32 x 51 31/32 in. (175 x 132 cm) Edition of 6 + 2 AP, Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris/Brussels
Fresh Cuts, Atlanta (Reflection), 2019, Pigment print backmounted on Dibond and framed with non reflect glass (non treated UV), Framed: 68 29/32 x 51 31/32 in. (175 x 132 cm), Edition of 6 + 2 AP, Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris/Brussels
Uptown Vision (Reflection), 2019, Pigment print back-mounted on Dibond and framed with non reflect glass (non treated UV) Framed: 68 29/32 x 51 31/32 in. (175 x 132 cm), Edition of 6 + 2 AP, Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris/Brussels
Philly’s Liberties Lunch(Reflection),2019,Pigment print backmounted on Dibond and framed with non reflect glass (non treated UV) Framed: 68 29/32 x 51 31/32 in. (175 x 132 cm) Edition of 6+2AP Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Nathalie Obadia Paris/Brussels
Crosby Display, Manhattan(Reflection),2019 Pigment print back-mounted on Dibond and framed with non reflect glass (non treated UV) Framed: 68 29/32 x 51 31/32 in. (175 x 132 cm) Edition of 6+2AP Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Nathalie Obadia Paris/Brussels