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Valentin Rilliet: 蜀風 – Mountain Stories
Galerie Peter Kilchmann

Rämistrasse 33, Zürich

, 1 November - 20 December 2024

Valentin Rilliet: 蜀風 – Mountain Stories: Galerie Peter Kilchmann

Rämistrasse 33, Zürich

Past viewing_room
  • Galerie Peter Kilchmann Zurich is thrilled to present the first solo exhibition with new works by Swiss painter Valentin Rilliet (b.1996, Geneva, Switzerland, lives and works in Zurich). The artist previously showed his work at the gallery in the group show Three New Positions featuring emerging artists in 2023. The exhibition has two titles: The Mandarin title 蜀風 (Shǔ Fēng, approximately translates into Essence of Shǔ), and the English title Mountain Stories. It is Rilliet’s inaugural solo exhibition since he was added to the gallery’s program.
     
  • In his new oil paintings, Rilliet continues to explore the complex exchanges between his Chinese heritage and upbringing within a Western artistic canon. While conceptualizing this new series, Rilliet stayed for six months in an artist residency in Chongqing, China. The Swiss public foundation Pro Helvetia awarded the residency to Rilliet in 2023, and it took place from early March to late August 2024. He finished the paintings after his return to Zurich.
    • Valentin Rilliet, Untitled (Fisherman), 2024
      Valentin Rilliet, Untitled (Fisherman), 2024
    • Valentin Rilliet, Untitled (Shy), 2024
      Valentin Rilliet, Untitled (Shy), 2024
    • Valentin Rilliet, Dawn, 2024
      Valentin Rilliet, Dawn, 2024
    • Valentin Rilliet, Wherever You Hide, The Party Finds You, 2024
      Valentin Rilliet, Wherever You Hide, The Party Finds You, 2024
    • Valentin Rilliet, Through Me, 2024
      Valentin Rilliet, Through Me, 2024
    • Valentin Rilliet, Relics, 2024
      Valentin Rilliet, Relics, 2024
  • While in Chongqing, Rilliet occupied a large studio space at ‘Organhaus Art Space’, where he collected the ideas and impressions for his paintings. The works depict people, items, media, and reproductions of site-specific characters, plants, and architectural elements, all existing in real life. Repurposing China’s folklore, and socialist propaganda material has been the core of his painting practice. Similar to the artist’s earlier works, in which he used socialist propaganda pamphlets and cartoons (连环画”, Lián Huán Huà), as source materials, Rilliet also drew from historic depictions of early modern and folkloric Chinese scenery. These impressions make up the rich repository for his compositions. He then reinterpreted them through his contemporary interpretation in an uncanny and anachronistic way.
     
    The exhibition’s title is primarily a reference to the geographic characteristics of the city and the historic name of Chongqing, which is located in the Province of Sichuan. However, the title in its Mandarin version translates closer to ‘tales or anecdotes of the region of Shǔ (Sichuan)’. It was also the dynastic state title of the kingdom of Shu in the 3rd century with a plethora of literary heritage. The particular choice of words in Mandarin is a clue to how much the artist was able to delve into the regional customs and familiarize himself with the region’s extensive history. Rilliet considers the new paintings as a chronicle of his journey. Everything the viewer sees depicted in the paintings are elements, or direct derivations, of what the artist saw during his residency. Each painting in the exhibition is a chapter of this chronicle. 
     
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  • Valentin Rilliet, 雾都 - City of Fog (Protagonists), 2024
    Artworks

    Valentin Rilliet

    雾都 - City of Fog (Protagonists), 2024
    The large diptych 雾都 City of Fog (Protagonists) was a catalyst for the whole series of new paintings in Mountain Stories. The half-transparent figures in the painting are inspired by three people that Rilliet met in Chongqing and observed in their everyday lives. He interpreted them as fantastical figures, near superheroes, who are jumping over the skyline of the Megacity. The figure on the right became one of the artist’s first close friends in Chongqing. The figure in the middle is a person belonging to the local underworld who, according to the artist, is very charismatic but also of questionable character. The figure on the left is a porter, a ‘bang bang man’, as they are called in the local Chongqing dialect. They build an indispensable part of the local economy. In the upper part of the painting, Rilliet applied a mix of marble dust and oil paint that enabled the artist to playfully reproduce a unique texture. The painting is the centerpiece of the exhibition and the creative manifestation of how much Rilliet was able to connect with authentic elements. According to Rilliet’s conclusions, not every foreign artist achieves that level of access to the local culture.
     
  • Valentin Rilliet, Distant Concerns, 2024
    Artworks

    Valentin Rilliet

    Distant Concerns, 2024
    Distant Concerns was one of the first paintings the artist finished in Chongqing. It contains signature elements from his previous works: figures with open mouths, and seemingly disjointed limbs that create an ambivalence about how many individuals are part of the composition, and the perspective view is unclear. It is a transitional work and contains a burning building that the artist saw when the Organhaus’ neighboring building lost an apartment to a fire one night. 
     
  • Valentin Rilliet, Vessel (after Chen Jen's film "Linchi: Echoes of a Historical Photograph, 2002"), 2024
    Artworks

    Valentin Rilliet

    Vessel (after Chen Jen's film "Linchi: Echoes of a Historical Photograph, 2002"), 2024
    The small painting Vessel (after Chen Chieh-Jen's film Linchi: Echoes of a Historical Photograph, 2002) features a male figure who seems to be treated or potentially maltreated by the surrounding characters. It is unclear which are his hands and which are those of his guards. In the painting Through Me, a person is jumping out of a paper window. The transparent female figure in the foreground’s involvement in the dramatic scene is ambiguous. She is either the dreamer or part of the dream. 
  • Other paintings like Quand la memoire s'effondre (E Ling Park - 鹅岭公园)), Compound III, Clairière, and Matters of the Wind (嘉陵江 Jia Ling River) depict architectural elements such as brick walls, doors, concrete structures, or abandoned structures standing in areas overgrown with wild plant life. In China’s state-capitalist-driven modernization, entire villages were built for workers and their families and then quickly abandoned after an area’s resources had been exploited. Chinese kites appear as toys in Rilliet’s painting but also figuratively as a symbol of modern flight and its wide-reaching consequences on society and conflicts. During World War II, the Japanese bombed Chongqing extensively as part of their preparations for the invasion of Sichuan (which eventually never happened). As a countermeasure, an international squadron of mostly Western pilots called the ‘Flying Tigers’ built training grounds in the province and defended the city. 
    • Valentin Rilliet, Quand la memoire s'effondre (E Ling Park - 鹅岭公园), 2024
      Valentin Rilliet, Quand la memoire s'effondre (E Ling Park - 鹅岭公园), 2024
    • Valentin Rilliet, Compound III, 2024
      Valentin Rilliet, Compound III, 2024
    • Valentin Rilliet, Clairière, 2024
      Valentin Rilliet, Clairière, 2024
    • Valentin Rilliet, Matters of the Wind (Jia Ling River 嘉陵江), 2024
      Valentin Rilliet, Matters of the Wind (Jia Ling River 嘉陵江), 2024
  • In contrast, the painting Awakening features scenery inspired by Tang Dynasty reliefs on ancient graves and a group of spectators underneath a starlit sky watching a dinosaur skeleton in a museum or possibly a children’s theater. Rilliet applied quartz sand to the skeletal figure to give it a tactile quality. The large-scale painting Sanctuary (天府 Tianfu) shows pigeons flying out of a smoky mineshaft whose doors had been previously sealed with massive rounded metal swing doors. The artist saw a similar entrance to a mince in an abandoned village North of Chongqing. The figure opening the door wears a fantasy costume, composed of fabric patterns Rilliet saw during his journey. The painting Poltergeist is a dreamlike urban vision containing a folkloristic-dressed figure that seems to have just drawn a spell on the portal of a house and the clueless inhabitants are catching them in the act. It is a scene with a phantom appearing to be both a reference to ancient traditions and Rilliet’s fresh appropriation of Eastern Mythology. 
     
    • Valentin Rilliet, Awakening, 2024
      Valentin Rilliet, Awakening, 2024
    • Valentin Rilliet, Sanctuary (Tianfu 天府), 2024
      Valentin Rilliet, Sanctuary (Tianfu 天府), 2024
    • Valentin Rilliet, Poltergeist, 2024
      Valentin Rilliet, Poltergeist, 2024
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    (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
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  • Valentin Rilliet (b.1996, Geneva, Switzerland), lives and works in Zurich. In 2023, he graduated from ZHdK with an MFA in...
    Valentin Rilliet (b.1996, Geneva, Switzerland), lives and works in Zurich. In 2023, he graduated from ZHdK with an MFA in Fine Arts and graduated with a BFA in Fine Arts from The Slade School of Fine Art, University College London, UK, in 2020. In 2023 he was awarded the Yvonne-Lang Chardonnens Stiftung, and Pro Helvetia (artist residency in Chongqing, China). His work has been shown at LINSEED Projects (Shanghai, 2024), Atelier Righini Fries (Zurich, 2024), Espace TOPIC (Geneva, 2024), the Grosse Regionale (Rapperswil, 2023), Galerie Peter Kilchmann (Zurich, 2023), Modern Animals Gallery (Zurich, 2023), Bahay Contemporary (Geneva, 2023), Sonnenstube Offspace (Lugano, 2022). His paintings are included in public and private collections across Switzerland, China, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Among them are Stadt Zurich, Zürcher Kantonalbank, Sammlung der Schweizer Post, The Leir Foundation, and the Royal Collection of the Crown Prince and Princess of Luxembourg. 
    More information
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  • Published in ZHDK, Z-KUBATOR in Oct. 2024

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Zurich 
Galerie Peter Kilchmann AG

Zahnradstrasse 21, 8005 Zurich, Switzerland

Phone: +41 44 278 10 10

info@peterkilchmann.com

 

Viewing Hours

Tuesday - Friday, 10 - 6 pm
Saturday, 11 am - 5 pm, and by appointment

Zurich 

Galerie Peter Kilchmann AG

Rämistrasse 33, 8001 Zurich, Switzerland

Phone: +41 44 278 10 11

info@peterkilchmann.com

 

Viewing Hours
Tuesday - Friday, 11 - 6 pm
Saturday, 11 am - 5 pm, and by appointment

 

Paris

Galerie Peter Kilchmann SAS

11-13, rue des Arquebusiers, 75003 Paris, France

Phone: +33 1 86 76 05 50 

info@peterkilchmann.com

 

Viewing Hours
Tuesday - Friday, 11 am - 7 pm
Saturday, 11 am - 7 pm, and by appointment

 

 

 

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