POST

Keith Haring, Tree of Life

Basquiat, Paints Like a Child

Lee Krasner, Sun Woman

Laurence de Valmy

2020

Acrylic on vinyl

Titled POST, these three banners, designed to look like Instagram posts, invite us to reflect on the relationship between art and social media. Inspired by the personal stories of the artists Keith Haring, Lee Krasner, and Jean-Michel Basquiat, the banners feature de Valmy’s own hand-painted renditions of iconic artworks juxtaposed with imagined conversations between the artists and their contemporaries. Asking “What if Instagram had always existed?”, the works pay tribute to the artists while exploring the impact of viewing art on a screen instead of in person.

“I love art history,” says de Valmy, “but above all I’m fascinated by personal stories and relationships: how artists were connected with other artists, art dealers, writers, their lovers, etc. What made them create their work? Or for whom did they do it? My goals are to share the stories behind the works, the links between the artists and to bring my viewers to consider these emblematic works with renewed interest by placing them in the context of their creation. By appropriating the works, I pay tribute to their authors and play with the concept of originality. That’s what my series is about.”

Originally from France, Laurence de Valmy lives and works in Philadelphia. Her work has been widely exhibited abroad and in the United States with solo shows in New York and Paris. In 2018, she exhibited along Andy Warhol in Munich at the Museum of Urban and Contemporary Art (MUCA) and in 2020 her work appeared on HBO alongside Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant in the Golden Globe-nominated series The Undoing. When not in her studio, she writes about art for her blog (@laurencedevalmy) and is a contributor to Femmes d’Art and French Quarter Magazine.

Location: MONDO building on the Summit Promenade

A special thanks to Annette Dwyer at MONDO for graciously allowing us to exhibit POST on the Promenade.