Valeska Soares
Brazilian, 1957- (active USA)

Un-Rest, 2010
128 footstools and 1 glass chair
Installation dimensions: 2 ft 10 in. x 39 ft 4 in. x 14 ft 6 in.

Courtesy Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel, São Paulo

COMMENTS

In Un-rest (2010), a procession of 128 found footstools curves in a wavelike formation from the corner of the gallery coming to a halt in front of a larger, nearly invisible, newly fabricated, transparent glass chair. The motley group of well-worn footrests varies widely in date, size, style, and materials―including surfaces of carved and painted wood, wicker, and upholstered coverings in needlepoint, embroidery, velvet, and vinyl. Innumerable tales can unfold from the evocative configuration of anthropomorphic characters.

The artist explains: “I’m fascinated by ephemeral things; I’m giving people triggers that activate memories and contexts, and they create their own narratives. Each piece has multiple readings depending on who is seeing it. There is no fixed meaning. What I want my pieces to be are triggers.” …

Like her Brazilian forebears of the Neo-Concrete art movement―Lygia Clark, Hélio Oiticica, and Lygia Pape―Soares creates “open-ended propositions” that require each participant’s presence, knowledge, and imagination to find personal significance. It is in these moments of unsettling ambiguity and earnest possibility that Soares asserts the subjectivity and multiplicity of meaning. Such experiences activate memories from which meaning unfolds.

- Patricia Hickson, Curator of Contemporary Art, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art