Antony Valerian

"From tomorrow ’til yesterday"

Antony Valerian is currently working in the Expanded Pictorial Space under the tutoring of Daniel Richter in Vienna. His work clearly portrays his unique way of transforming the figurative, the images dissolving in themselves, created through the abstract, and not vice versa. By this a body, often formed by a sweeping line, seemingly dissolves into the breadth.

Gestures are clearly present and visible in his images as, for him, they form an important way of expression. Antony Valerian’s focus lies on the atmosphere and ambiance created within an image, much more so than on his figures taking on any distinctive roles. For this reason, the figures in his melancholic works give off a sense of seclusion and introversion, they are alone in peace, offering the viewer a chance to step into the image and identify with the figure.

He aims to preserve a playful space for the onlooker, inviting one to discover the thoughts of an image, instead of forcing these upon them. The images rarely halt at the frame, but rather allow for a vignette-like surrounding of the entire perspective which, in turn, is analogous to the atmosphere and definition within the image.
Text by Marie Anna Frieda

What is it about your studio space that inspires you?

In Hamburg I have a glass wall on the one side. When i look through it there are woods and nothing else to see then green nature.

What sounds, scents and sights do you encounter while in your studio?

From Gabriel Fauré s Requiem it goes through haze of terpentin to Noire Desire or Element of Crime. I am standing somewhere in between, lost in colour.

What is your favourite material to work with? How has your use of it evolved throughout your practice?

Oil on canvas. By just doing it. Sometimes not planifying something gives birth to a new point of view in the detail of your own.

What themes do you pursue?

I see my work as a place beyond. Music without vocals or voclas of a language you dont know. So a soundtrack, which allows the viewer to be in it an still be, with a sight of their own..

What advice has had the biggest impact on your career?

To not think about material waste

If you could install your art absolutely anywhere, where would that be?

On the Wadden Sea. I think as much as i love that place, it is a very challenging place for the paintings to trump it.

If you could only have one piece of art in your life, what would it be?

Rembrandt´s "Drei Kreuze" but than nobody elese could see it. So i rather be near a the public place where it is hanging.

If you weren´t an artist, what would you be doing?

Going for a walk

What are your favourite places besides your studio?

Northern european nature and the Loos Bar in Vienna

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