Valerie Snobeck & Oscar Tuazon

an exhibition by

Valérie Snobeck and Oscar Tuazon

at Brasserie Atlas

Curated by Catherine Bastide

Opening on April 23 Exhibition from April 24 to May 19, 2019

B A S T I D E P R O J E C T S Chaussée de Forest 62 - 1060 - Belgium [email protected] - www.catherinebastide.org THE EXHIBITION

Bastide Projects is a contemporary art platform founded in 2018. Based on Catherine Bastide’s long international contemporary art expertise as a gallery owner and producer, the platform aims to promote social entrepreneurship in the art world.

Bastide Projects connects artists, curators, galleries and foundations with NGOs and associations com- mitted to the protection of the environment by organizing benefit exhibitions. These exhibitions help highlight various local environmental initiatives and support them by donating a share from the sales.

The first initiative of Bastide Projects in Brussels is an exhibition of artists Oscar Tuazon and Valérie Snobeck in support of Oscar Tuazon’s project ‘Los Angeles Water School (LAWS)’.

On the invitation of En Silence collective, Catherine Bastide will bring together Oscar Tuazon and Valerie Snobeck works for the first time at Brasserie Atlas, a post-industrial building where the artists will show new works produced for the exhibition.

Los Angeles Water School (LAWS), Downtown LA

View of Brasserie Atlas

Practical information : Opening: Tuesday 23th of April, from 6 to 9 pm

Exhibition: From April 24 to May 19, 2019

Hours: April 24-28 from 11 am to 7 pm May 1-19 by appointment by e-mail: [email protected]

Location : Rue du Libre Examen, 15 - B-1070, Belgium

Contact: [email protected] THE PROJECT WE SUPPORT

Los Angeles Water School (LAWS), Downtown LA

Los Angeles Water School (LAWS) is a functional artwork, an experimental school for students of all ages to engage in dialogue and collaborative work about water. Located adjacent to the Los Angeles River, in a structure inspired by Steve and Holly Baer’s self-sufficient passive solar Zome House (1969-72), LAWS is the first of four Water Schools planned by artist Oscar Tuazon, with locations in Minnesota, Michi- gan, and Nevada. Through this collaborative process tracing how water connects diverse communities within Los Angeles and across the continent, working from a micro to macro under- standing of policy and infrastructure, the artist and LAND are excited to continue this constitutive dialogue and create a setting for the exchange of cross-disciplinary ideas and learning.

Beginning October 12th, and continuing through Spring of 2019, Oscar Tuazon and LAND will present to the public a series of events at Los Angeles Water School (LAWS). This series of events builds a genealogy of the complex life of water in Los Angeles, through the lens of local history, architecture, politics, and art. By creating this genealogy, Tuazon and LAND hope to highlight the dialogue about water and infrastructure in Los Angeles and bring it to a new audience. THE ARTISTS

Los Angeles Water School (LAWS), Downtown LA THE ARTISTS

OSCAR TUAZON

Interested in building and creating forms meant to be social works rather than dec- orative objects, the artist’s sculptural practice revolves around an elemental under- standing of simple models and complex spaces. Tuazon uses the vocabulary of archi- tecture to investigate the humanistic potential of the occupation of quotidian spaces.

Tuazon predominantly works with architectural techniques and materials, creating structures and spaces using building supplies such as steel, glass, and wood and a simple do-it-yourself approach. Tuazon’s sculptures, built by hand, are often qua- si-functional objects or models of other spaces. The construction process itself can often be seen as a performative part of the work, applying the techniques of Land Art and Minimalism in improvised collaborations with designers, engineers, and build- ers to produce large-scale installations and public projects.

Oscar Tuazon, Burn the Formwork (Fire Building), 2017 © Skluptur Projekte 2017, Foto: Henning Rogge Oscar Tuazon, Sun Riot, 2017, one of four elements in the Colonne d’Eau, 2017 Thermoplastic hoses, tree trunks, 268 x 210 x 996 cm Installation view, Pace Vendôme, , 2017 Photograph by Marc Domage

Oscar Tuazon was born in , USA and he lives and works in Los Angeles, USA. He is currently represented by Luhring Augustine (New York), Eva Presenhuber (Zu- rich/New York) et Chantal Crousel (Paris).

He has shown his work extensively in the and Europe, including solo exhibitions at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2016) ; Le Consortium, Dijon (2015); deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, Massachusetts (2014); the Museum Ludwig, (2014); Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, (2013); the Schinkel Pavillon, (2013); Kunsthalle Bern (2010) and Centre Inter- national d’Art et du Paysage, Vassivière (2009). Tuazon’s work has been featured in several important international group exhibitions, including in 2017, the Skulptur Projekte in Münster and Documenta 14 Athen. As well as the 5th Beaufort, Triennial of Contemporary Art by the Sea, Oostende, Bel- gium (2015); the 2012 Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; and ILLUMInations, 54th (2011). He has been selected for several public commissions, among them: Un Pont, Nouveaux Commanditaires - Fondation de France, Belfort, France (2016) and People, Public Art Fund, Brooklyn Bridge Park, New York (2013). In October 2017, FIAC gave him carte blanche to present an in-situ project on the prestigious Place Vendôme, Une colonne d’eau. Oscar Tuazon, Zome Alloy, 2016. Installation view at Art Basel. Courtesy Chantal Crousel, Paris; Luhring Au- gustine, New York; Eva Presenhuber /New York © Oscar Tuazon. Photo : Stefan Altenburger Photography VALERIE SNOBECK

Valerie Snobeck’s sculptural practice uses the modes of entropy, loss, accumulation and displacement as if they were techniques. The work is a diagram within the cor- relation between natural environment and synthetic material culture. Snobeck’s im- agery and materials are layered into one another: plastic, tar, burlap, denim, Depres- sion Era glassware, measures for repairing movement in wristwatches, twenty-first century inkjet printing and cardboard shipping containers are soaked in a previous era’s recession and oil crises.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Washington, D.C also finds a recurring interest in her work - throught the use of images from « Documerica », a project which aimed to report the environmental state of the country during the 70’s or more recently in her show at Le Consortium (Dijon, FR) which concentrates on its uneasy relationship with industrial lobbies, especially under the current ad- ministration with its rollback of previous regulatory measures.

Her work constructs a framework through which to gauge the impacts and co-de- pendency of a range of political, economic and aesthetic concerns.

“Build of a Nearby Valley While Looking Afar”, Le Consortium, Dijon, 2018, installation view Bag House, 2015 Bag House, 2015 Synthetic polymer paint and baghouse filter Synthetic polymer paint and baghouse filter

Valerie Snobeck was born in Wadena, MN and she lives and works New York, NY. She is currently represented by Simon Lee (New York/Londres/Honk Kong).

She has shown her work in several important exhibitions at Le Consortium, Dijon (2018), Catherine Bastide Gallery, Bruxelles (2017), Lafayette Anticipations - Fon- dation d’entreprise Galeries Lafayette, Paris (2016), Simon Lee Gallery, Hong Kong (2016), Aishti Foundation, Beirut (2016), Essex Street Gallery, NY (2015), etc. Her works are in the collections of Le Consortium, Dijon; FRAC Champagne FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, Reims; Las Abattoirs, FRAC Midi-Pyrenees, Toulouse; Fonda- tion Lafayette, Paris; University of Chicago Booth School, Chicago. “Build of a Nearby Valley While Looking Afar”, Le Consortium, Dijon, 2018, installation views