OUR VALENCE

‘Our Valence’

By Kennedy Yanko, in collaboration with Lutfi Janania; performance by Zachary Tye Richardson.

Curated by Tessa Ferreyros for Art in Buildings

“Our Valence”is a performance-driven installation comprised of exotic florals, organic material, found metal and paint skins, andnarrativebodilymovement.Itisasomaestheticenactmentofcreatingtheindivisible:buildingthebuildingblocksofmatter.Thisroomrepresentsthepersonifyingmomentwhenseemlyoppositeforcesharmonize. “OurValence” exists as the repetitive moment that begins and ends again and again. It must occur before life can be seen, felt, heard, or perceived as a whole. Here, corporal sensation and its accompanying ricochet of human phenomena remind viewers of their potential for an ever-expanding spectrum of experience. This space, designated for self-experimentation, is where intellectualization rests, gazes at, and learns from its proprioceptive counterpart: intuition

“At the center of Our Valence is a lush crown-like shrine of dried flowers and ferns. A sharp chartreuse painted backdrop extends behind the sculpture and wraps across the wall and floor, unifying the installation by pulling the viewer's eye to a second wall-mounted shrine across the room – a dry, prickly frame that lies in stark contrast to its lush counterpart. Richardson animates the space through performance, a recording of which is projected onto the walls of the gallery. Their movements vibrate with the energy of the surroundings, activating the metal base, the paint skin, and botanicals, embodying what cannot be seen by the naked eye: "the breath of life." Towards the front of the installation sits a shallow, clear pool of water, which acts as a collision between the dry and the lush shrines, and offers a visual moment of pause.”

Press release, Art in Buildings