Val (sculptor)
Valérie Goutard (born May 20, 1967 in Boulogne-Billancourt ; † October 27, 2016 ) was a French sculptor who performed under her stage name VAL .
biography
Goutard was born in Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine . Her parents were Nathalie Goutard and Jean-Claude Goutard, an engineer who worked for a large oil company. Because of her father's position, she divided her childhood between Europe, Africa and South America. After studying literature and advertising, she worked in marketing until 2001. In 2002 a friend, Florence Jouglard, a trained auctioneer and artist, lured her into trying to sculpt from clay.
Goutard worked on clay with her own hands and felt a revelation, a kind of “love at first sight” for this activity, which she perceived as an extension of her inner world. “It was like a revelation, a kind of resurgence of a long-buried memory. My love for sculpture, material and volume was born in a very immediate way, ”she said in an interview in 2014. This discovery came at a time when Goutard wanted to distance himself from her cultural and family environment, the“ sometimes paralyzing one Pronounced judgments ”. She felt the need to break free from this environment and return to a freedom of thought and action that will be one of the main themes of her artistic career.
Goutard took art classes in Paris for two years and then settled in Thailand in August 2004 , where she gave herself completely to her artistic vocation, where she quickly gave up the tone for working with bronze . “I switched to bronze and I really liked it because I could do something with it that I couldn't do with clay. Because with welding you can make very graphic and very light sculptures, ”she explained in 2010. Goutard, who took the stage name VAL, worked with this material and said she felt she was taking her place in the ancient line of sculptors. Nevertheless, VAL proudly emphasized her self-learning. Her relative lack of culture in the visual arts gave her greater freedom of creation.
In 2007 she met Frédéric Morel in Bangkok , whom she married in 2009. Shortly after they met Morel, Morel left his job to promote VAL's work in the art market and to consolidate its international reputation.
Through several international solo exhibitions and public institutions, VAL became an artist recognized in Asia and Europe. At the end of 2015, she received the Trophée des Français de l'étranger from French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius .
Shortly before the opening of an exhibition of a new range of works of art at the RedSea Gallery in Singapore , VAL died in a motorcycle accident in Thailand's Chon Buri province in October 2016 . After her burial in a Buddhist temple in Bangkok and in the Catholic Church of the Missions Etrangères de Paris, also in Bangkok, her ashes were distributed on the grounds of Ocean Utopia, one of her main works of art, near Ko Tao .
Exhibitions
- 2016
- Solo exhibition, “The Tenth Eonian Initiative”, RedSea Gallery, Singapore
- Art Kaohsiung, Taiwan (Philippe Staib Gallery)
- Art Taipei (Philippe Staib Gallery)
- Shanghai Art Fair (Philippe Staib Gallery)
- Solo exhibition “Anatomy of a Creative Path”, Central Academiy of Fine Arts (CAFA), Beijing (Philippe Staib Gallery)
- 2015
- Solo exhibition “Anatomy of a Creative Path”, Yishu 8 foundation, Beijing (Philippe Staib Gallery)
- Art Kaohsiung, Taiwan (Philippe Staib Gallery)
- Art Taipei (Philippe Staib Gallery)
- Shanghai Art Fair (Philippe Staib Gallery)
- 2014
- Solo exhibition, Red Sea Gallery
- Art Taipei (Philippe Staib Gallery)
- Shanghai Art Fair (Philippe Staib Gallery)
- ArtExpo, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- 2013
- Art Taipei (Philippe Staib Gallery)
- Shanghai Art Fair (Philippe Staib Gallery)
- ArtExpo, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- Chanintr Living, with Manol Chrétien, Bangkok
- 2012
- Solo exhibition, Philippe Staib Gallery, Taipei
- Solo exhibition, Philippe Staib Gallery, Shanghai
- Solo exhibition, RedSea Gallery, Singapore
- Art Taipei (Philippe Staib Gallery)
- Shanghai Art Fair (Philippe Staib Gallery)
- 2011
- François Giraudeau Gallery, Paris
- Art Taipei (Philippe Staib Gallery)
- Shanghai Art Fair (Philippe Staib Gallery)
- Art Revolution, Taipei
- Lineart, Ghent, Belgium
- Chiefs & Spirits, The Hague, Netherlands
- 2010
- Solo exhibition, RedSea Gallery, Singapore
- Solo exhibition, Wellington Gallery, Hong Kong
- Solo exhibition, fondation Yishu 8, Beijing (Philippe Staib Gallery)
- Jing'An International Sculpture Project, Shanghai (Purple Roof Gallery)
- Shanghai Art Fair (Purple Roof Gallery)
- Lineart, Ghent, Belgium
- 2009
- Solo exhibition, Wellington Gallery, Hong Kong
- Solo exhibition, YI&C, Taipei (Philippe Staib Gallery)
- Solo exhibition, François Giraudeau Gallery, Paris
- Shanghai Art Fair (Purple Roof Gallery)
Public representations
- 2017
- Taichung, Taiwan - Du chaos à la sagesse (From chaos to wisdom)
- Benjasiri park, Bangkok - Ville Fantastique II
- 2016
- Koh Tao , Thailand - Ocean Utopia (underwater exhibition)
- 2015
- SkySuite, Singapore - Inéquilibre
- Alliance Française, Bangkok - Ville Fantastique II (temporary exhibition)
- 2014
- Central Embassy, Bangkok - Ville Fantastique II (temporary exhibition)
- Sorrento, Singapore - Footsteps II
- New Square, Taipei - Waiting III (Philippe Staib Gallery)
- 2012
- Sofitel, Bangkok, Inle Balance III
- New Square, Taipei - Inle Balance III (Philippe Staib Gallery)
- Art & Arch Museum, Taichung, Taiwan
- 2011
- Sofitel, Bangkok - Hide and Seek II
- Sofitel, Bangkok - Urban Gathering
- 2010
- Shanghai Art Fair - Urban Life (temporary exhibition)
- Shanghai Kerry Center - Urban Life (Temporary Exhibition)
- New Square, Hong Kong - Finding Soulmate II
Individual evidence
- ↑ Interview by François-Bernard Mâche, March 31, 2014
- ↑ Interview broadcast on Bulgaria TV . September 2010.
- ^ Presentation for the association Français du monde, Bangkok, 2015
- ↑ Tammarin Dejsupa: A Touching Experience . In: Bangkok Post . July 13, 2013.
- ↑ Trophée Art de Vivre - Valérie Goutard, Cyril Payen, France 24 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Val |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Goutard, Valérie (full name); VAL (artist name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French sculptress |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 20, 1967 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Boulogne-Billancourt |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 27, 2016 |