ZACH VALENT _
Bio
A couple of hours south of Chicago where the Illinois River widens to a measured two and a half miles, lies the quaint river city of Peoria, Illinois. This blue-collar city with a healthy appetite for art, music and literature is ripe with creative culture and is the birthplace of Zach Valent. Having grown up by simple means, his earliest artworks were created with household and recycled items. On countless occasions his parents returned home to find that he had transformed entire rooms into sprawling maze-like installations with nothing more than a large ball of string, or to find the back yard littered with large structures constructed from scrap wood and rope.
In 2014 after completing a BFA at Southern Illinois University Carbondale located in the Shawnee National Forest, Valent ventured to the Sonoran Desert to pursue a Masters of Fine Arts Degree and to fulfill a lifelong dream of exploring the southwest. Since relocating to Tempe, Arizona, Valent has excelled beyond his imagination in not only his academic career at Arizona State University but also as a professional artist. In the summer of 2016 he returned from a six-week digital stone-carving residency in Italy, ready to begin development on his MFA thesis titled Antiquarium of Change; which was successfully installed in April of 2017. Valant’s work has been admired, exhibited and collected both nationally and internationally.
Statement
Through an imaginative interaction with a variety of material applications Valent strives for a balance between aesthetic value and intellectual understanding. While the visual properties of his work have rapidly changed and developed over the short course of a decade, the underlying theme and interest to the relative understanding of time is ever present. Exploring the boundaries between scientific process and artistic application, Valent’s work creates a phenomenological experience that welcomes individual reflection while simultaneously drawing upon an appreciation for beautiful objects.
When entering Valent’s studio you will find a glimpse of the past, present, and the future, and experience as he imagines, the grandeur of time. Packed with numerous ongoing experiments and a plethora of chemically fossilized man made objects, there is always something new happening for Valent. From large chambers used for growing an array of crystals on an assortment of objects, and stalactite like chandeliers made of salt deposits or paper it is clear that Valent is dedicated to his passion for artistic exploration.
ANT 1
Antiquarian 1
Chandelier
The 19th
Falling Cup 1
VERY INTERESTING CONCEPTS... COOL...
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