Valentin Rilliet: 蜀風 - Mountain Stories

蜀風 - Mountain Stories is a solo exhibition with new works by the Swiss painter Valentin Rilliet, exploring the complex exchange between his Chinese heritage and upbringing in the Western art canon. While conceiving this new series, Rilliet spent about 6 months in an artist residency in Chongqing, Mainland China.

The works depict real-life people, objects, media, and replicas of site-specific people, plants, and architectural elements. Repurposing Chinese folklore and socialist propaganda material has been central to his painting practice. Similar to the artist's earlier work, which used socialist propaganda pamphlets and comics (comic strips) as source material, he also drew on historical depictions of early modern and folklore Chinese landscapes. These impressions constitute a rich treasure trove of his work and then he reinterprets them through contemporary interpretations in an uncanny and anachronistic way.

The title of the exhibition mainly references the geographical features and historical name of Chongqing, a city located in Sichuan Province. However, its Mandarin version's title translates closer to "tales or anecdotes of the region of Shǔ (Sichuan)". It was also the name of the Shu Kingdom in the third century and has a rich literary heritage. The specific diction of Mandarin demonstrates the artist's deep research into local customs and familiarity with the region's rich history. The artist sees these new paintings as a chronicle of his journey. Everything the viewer sees in the paintings is the element or direct derivative of what the artist saw during his residency, each painting in the exhibition is a chapter in this chronicle.

Valentin Rilliet - <<蜀風 - Mountain Stories>>
Date: 1 Nov – 20 Dec 2024
Gallery: Galerie Peter Kilchmann
Address: Rämistrasse 33, 8001 Zurich, Switzerland
・・・
#蜀風MountainStories
#ValentinRilliet