The Georgia Museum of Art will show an exhibition of large-scale works by the American sculptor De Wain Valentine Sept. 8-Jan. 27. The exhibition, De Wain Valentine: Human Scale, will feature eight translucent sculptures (see photo above), most measuring between 6 and 8 feet tall.
In 1965, Valentine already was working with plastics when he began a “love affair with the sea and the sky” and sought to render them in his art. His intention was for the surface of the sculptures to disappear, allowing for the diffusion, transmission, refraction and reflection of light. Such phenomenological features—and his moves toward a more environmental scale—resulted in an association with the Light and Space art movement of his time.
Recent exhibitions have highlighted Valentine’s sculptures, most notably in 2011 at the J. Paul Getty Museum as part of Pacific Standard Time, a multi-museum event examining postwar Los Angeles art.
The exhibition at GMOA will present the largest number of these works ever assembled together. The installation will provide ample space for viewing the works in the round, and the Getty-produced video From Start to Finish: De Wain Valentine’s Gray Column will be screened continuously in the Alonzo and Vallye Dudley Gallery.
Several events are scheduled to coincide with the exhibition. A quarterly open house with music, refreshment, a workshop and a tour with curator Paul Manoguerra will he held Sept. 13 at 6 p.m. A Family Day will be held Nov. 10 from 10 a.m.-noon.
