artnexus #50

Valeska Soares (Belo Horizonte, 1957) belongs to an important group of Brazilian artists engaged in sensory experimentation and the exploration of new materials.

Soares carries forth the work of figures like Lygia Clark, Hélio Oiticica, and Cildo Meireles by promoting the viewer’s active participation by appealing to his or her senses.

Using materials as diverse as flowers, 

perfumes, wax, and mirrors,  Soares motivates us to reflect upon issues as complex as aspects of female identity. Her attempt to find images capable of arousing interests and evocations problematizes the notion of linear time, and allows for several simultaneous readings of her work. 

Soares’ approach to nature posits the complexity of relations established between nature and man’s intention to dominate and rationalize it. Thus her interest in gardens as human constructions designed to control nature through direct interventions on 

the land.

In Soares’ more recent works, in conjunction with her interest in gardens, the mirror plays a key role in allowing the artist to create images that insist on the meaning of fragments, again questioning the notion of a continuous narration. 

Her Detour installation, on our cover, reflects the confluence of several of these intentions. 

IVONNE PINI