Virginia Woolf Fabric Sculpture, Anne Valérie Dupond, 2012

ANNE-VALÉRIE DUPOND (b. 1976, France) Anne-Valérie Dupond, born in 1976, studied at Marc Bloch University in Strasbourg, and obtained her Master’s degree in Fine Arts in 2000. Since 2001, Dupond has worked with Parisian Gallery Edgar, and until 2011, with Dufay-Bonnet Gallery, also in Paris. Not only has Dupond’s work been exported around the world, but she has collaborated on numerous high profile projects, including fashion houses such as Kenzo, Undercover, Le Printemps, and Comme des Garçons, which is quite evident in her body of work, “Travaux de Couture”. “My work is making sculptures with fabrics. I'm working simply with recovered fabrics, needle and thread. I try to create a world crafted from sensitivity, ranging from the bestial (hunting trophies and animals of all kinds) to human representations such as busts of historical figures, pin-ups, and baroque sculpture. Whatever the representation, I like to approach the female/male duality with humour, playfully caricaturizing the stereotypes.” Anne-Valérie Dupond’s work is a constant game of contradictions: between feminine and masculine, heavy and noble materials that oppose light and humble materials. Humour and mockery are always present, like in the “Les Grands Hommes” series, a reference to the tradition of majestic portraits, usually sculpted from noble material such as marble, by male artists. Fabric and sewing, generally associated with women, are used here in the performing of academic portraits to produce a humorous criticism of the longstanding male domination in the artistic world and an attempt at establishing gender equality. The series also underlines the importance and weight of history in France. Anne-Valérie Dupond currently lives and works in France, and is represented by the DECORAZON gallery.