Art Exhibition Review: Valerie Andrianoff Essay -- Valerie Andrianoff

The Gallery presented a set of bronze sculptures made by a French artist called Valerie Andrianoff. Val’s works of art can be perceived as a search for balance and stability as the heading of this exhibition has already suggested â€Å"The Balance of Life† (Byrs-Lasquier, n.d.). In the following, a few of her works will be selected to illustrate what kind of ideas she is trying to express and how I feel about these sculptures. Most of the human figures created by Val are small. We can rarely see their facial expression. Most of the people may find them not beautiful, but through the figures and their body movements, artist’s idea of presenting balance really achieves. Like the two Small Round Table (Fig. 1 & 2), the figure is slim and slender who tries to balance the body in a whirling or rotating table, echoing the name of this exhibition The Balance of Life. It seems that these two works of art try to show people in this fast changing and spinning world have to take the first step to seek the equilibrium when finding their own role. The movements of the two figures are also like touching a water surface and make it swirls, creating a special visual effect that is pleasant to look at. The images of circle appear quite frequently in Val’s bronze sculptures. For instance, Loneliness (Fig. 3) shows a human being surrounds by a number of circles that give an impression to resemble our round-shaped world. This work of art looks as if the person is in his own mental world with no other people present. As the name of this work suggests, this person is probably in a state of loneliness and meditates in this revolving world. Loneliness too creates a sense of balance when putting a small and slim figure on a strip of circle. Running In A... ...he human beings. Sometimes leaving the reality and trying to meditate or think of our roles in the real world may be another kind of psychotherapy to help us to achieve a balance in our life. Works Cited Byrs-Lasquier, P. (n.d.). Retrieved December 3, 2009, from http://www.sculptureval.com/index.shtml Fichner-Rathus, L. (1998). Understanding Art (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, N. J.: Prentice Hall. Winckelmann, J. (1764). The History of Ancient Art. In L. Eitner (Ed.), Neoclassicism and Romanticism 1750-1850 (pp. 16-19). New York: Harper & Row. Fine Arts Interactive Visual Archive [Image] (n.d.). Retrieved December 3, 2009, from http://finearts.hku.hk/faiva/slides/imagepop/3871 Wellington Gallery [Image] (n.d.). Retrieved December 3, 2009, from http://www.wellingtongallery.com.hk/exhibitions/ http://www.wellingtongallery.com.hk/artists/of/the/month/