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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.
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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.
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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), 2024The 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. -
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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.
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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.
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Published in ZHDK, Z-KUBATOR in Oct. 2024
Galerie Peter Kilchmann
Rämistrasse 33, Zürich
, 1 November - 20 December 2024
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