Valeska Soares
Brazilian, 1957- (active USA)

Fainting Couch, 2002
Stainless steel, stargazer lilies, and textile
Dimensions overall: 78 3/4 x 23 1/2 x 13 3/4 in.

Prototype: Tate Gallery, London

COMMENTS

The intensive natural scent of flowers that is experienced on close physical contact with the artwork is declared, by the Brazilian-born artist Valeska Soares, the central bearer of expression.

With its cool and clinical appearance, the couch stands in strong contrast to the lush scent of the Stargazer lilies that are hidden in a drawer beneath the perforated lying surface. The beguiling perfume of flowers, which fills the whole room, is bewildering: according to its title, the ”Fainting Couch” should actually be used for coming back to one’s senses after a spell of unconsciousness.

However – the intoxicating dose with which one is confronted can have precisely the opposite effect. Here, seduction and intoxication by means of odors lie closely side by side. Soares construes this metaphorically: in many areas of our lives, any excess – be it of consumer goods, work, food, sexuality, hatred, or media consumption – entails symptoms of poisoning.

At the level of form and content, she deliberately confronts us with contradictions: thus, on the couch, disparate
emotions, memories, and associations are awakened – from the Garden of Eden to physical ephemerality.

- Belle Haleine - The Scent of Art in Museum Tinguely, 2015, p. 21