Valérie Kolakis’ work is an exploration of architectonics in relation to issues of migration, displacement and change. The underlining themes behind her work are of subtraction, vacancy and the false referent in the urban landscape. Specifically, it is a conceptual investigation of how identity is constructed and subsequently constrained by society and its physical spaces. At the core of this is a questioning of the idea of biography.

Using industrially mass-produced ubiquitous materials, present in daily life, the artist’s intent is to explore the imagery of the urban space and the transitory condition of that which constitutes it through the use of poor and/ or found materials, materials that work against the authenticity of pure form, in order to fabricate work marked out by an ephemeral facet. In a sense, it is a rebuilding of an “object” and a contradicting of its function.

Born in Athens, Greece, Valérie Kolakis works and lives in Montreal. Kolakis had exhibited her work in Canada, United States, Europe and China. Her most recent exhibitions include Art Rotterdam (Fold Gallery, London 2016), Chara (Centre Diagonale, Montréal, 2015), The Duration of the Sharp Hard Outline of Things (Fold Gallery, London, 2014), and Living in a Material World (Centre Phi, 2013, Montreal). Her work was presented in The Quebec Triennial (Musée d’art contemporain de Montreal) in 2011. Valerie Kolakis was shortlisted for the first edition of the Musée National des beaux-arts du Québec Contemporary Art Award in 2013.

COLLECTIONS

Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, Montréal, Canada.
Musée National des beaux-arts du Québec, Québec, Canada.
Collection Prêt d’oeuvres d’art du Musée National des beaux-arts du Québec.
Private Collections.