Auction house Phillips is hosting a selling exhibition of works by the celebrated Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos. Titled “Material World,” the exhibition includes more than 40 works spanning the various periods of Vasconcelos’ career to date, revealing her acute sense of scale and her mastery of color and materials, through which the genius of her practice emerges.Best known for using banal, everyday objects to create multifaceted and multilayered sculptures and installations, Vasconcelos uses her talents and skills to explore consumer culture and concepts of collective identity through the dichotomies of the hand-crafted/industrial, private/public, tradition/modernity, and popular culture/erudite culture.One of the highlights of the exhibition is a brand new work from the artist’s current series, the Valkyries, which takes inspiration from the female figures of Norse mythology who flew over battlefields to choose which of the slain warriors were worthy of a place in Valhalla, the great hall of Odin where the souls of brave warriors reside.Vasconcelos said: “The works chosen for the exhibition look to challenge and transform fragments of the domestic environment into a deep, hedonistic desire to express life. I’m excited to be showing the exhibition in London, and I’m grateful to Phillips for their support and for hosting it at such a great space as their galleries at Berkeley Square.”Matt Carey-Williams, deputy chairman of Phillips said: “We are honored to be able to support and celebrate Joana Vasconcelos by hosting an exhibition in London this summer. Joana is one of today’s most exciting artists and this will be her first solo exhibition in London since 2012. We are thrilled to be able to give collectors and art enthusiasts the opportunity to come and see her work.”“Joana Vasconcelos: Material World” is at Phillips, 30 Berkeley Square, London, W1J 6EX, until August 30 and coincides with the launch of a monograph on the artist, published by Thames and Hudson.
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