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Almine Rech

De Wain Valentine

De Wain Valentine was born in Colorado and arrived in L.A. in 1965 to teach a course in plastics technology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He is regarded today among the earliest pioneers in the use of industrial plastics and resins to execute monumental sculptures that reflect the light and engage the surrounding space through its mesmerizingly translucent surfaces that arrest one's gaze. […] This technical knowledge, combined with his subsequent experience working with fiberglass-reinforced plastic in boat building shops and painting automobiles, air planes - and even, according to some, UFOs - led to his fascination and artistic involvement with sculptures made out of colored plastic and polyester resin, all materials evoking a futurist era.

Extract from an essay by art historian and author Joachim Pissarro, part of the illustrated catalogue on De Wain Valentine published in 2017 by Almine Rech Editions.    

Selected artworks

  • De Wain Valentine,                                      Square gray dapple to black, 1970-71

    De Wain Valentine Square gray dapple to black, 1970-71

    Cast polyester resin
    86,04 x 86,04 x 6,99 cm

  • De Wain Valentine,                                      Gray Column, 1975-76

    De Wain Valentine Gray Column, 1975-76

    Cast Polyester Resin
    355,6 x 222 x 24 cm

    Installation view: From Start to Finish: De Wain Valentine’s Gray Column

    September 13, 2011 – March 11, 2012 - J. Paul Getty Museum, West Pavilion, Los Angeles

  • De Wain Valentine,                                      Slab, 1968

    De Wain Valentine Slab, 1968

    Cast polyester resin
    177,8 x 58,4 x 43,2 cm

    Collection Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, Gift of First Interstate Bank of California, Los Angeles. © De Wain Valentine 1968. Photo by Philipp Scholz Rittermann.

  • De Wain Valentine,                                      Red Concave Circle, 1970

    De Wain Valentine Red Concave Circle, 1970

    Cast polyester resin
    96 Ø x 12 in

    Installation view: From Start to Finish: De Wain Valentine’s Gray Column
    September 13, 2011 – March 11, 2012 - J. Paul Getty Museum, West Pavilion, Los Angeles

  • De Wain Valentine,                                      Small Circle, 1971

    De Wain Valentine Small Circle, 1971

    Cast polyester resin
    44,5 x 44,5 x 3 cm

Selected press