Simon Lee

Valerie Snobeck

28 Mar - 17 May 2014

© Valerie Snobeck
Skin Tight, 2014
Peeled prints and burlap on plastic
289.6 x 289.6 cm
114 x 114 in
VALERIE SNOBECK
Le monde, le continent, la France, etc..., etc..., la rue de Bizerte, moi
28 March – 17 May 2014

Simon Lee Gallery is proud to present Valerie Snobeck’s first UK exhibition, Le monde, le continent, la France, etc...,etc..., la rue de Bizerte, moi which opens shortly after her presentation at the Whitney Biennial.
Whenever I need to make a decision I take it upon myself to consult the Pacific Ocean satellite. You can’t see everything from the view up there, but it also cannot help but reveal some absolute things, some of which are the direction of things, a distance, and a delay.

Expansion, like breathing, allows for what was external to become internal. A movement to an extended or reach beyond capacity. A bruise happens when vessels are damaged and allow blood to seep where before it had been confined, external, but still within. Can we see everything that is inside us?

I am often asked if the peels I make are archival and how do we get these things off the wall? They are removed from a wall through a separation, through another peeling.

I have been searching through this archive for years. Most of the time was spent being afraid to use the images.
Not for fear of copyright. The photographers were all paid and released their rights to the images. I was confused about the truth of a photo that was taken to document the current state of the environment. Can the environment be sealed within the confines of a frame? Can the environment that existed before be different than the one existing now? The more I searched the archive the more I was convinced that it was through what was not shown in the images, but what it was next to, what surrounded it, and what is now alongside the images that is the importance. What was there that was not visible? What are the layers in front of these things?

Use Access: Unrestricted.
Access Restrictions: Unrestricted.
Order Reproductions.

These images are held in the US National Archives. They are available online as digital downloads and at 8601 Adelphi Rd, MD, USA. In the archives when you ask for a box for research there is no subtext that goes along with the images. They are archived on slide sheets organized by photographer image next to image without interruption.

Valerie Snobeck
 

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