Hossein & Angela Valamanesh

16 August – 14 September 2013



Angela Valamanesh, Various friends and enemies no. 2, 2013, ceramic, 94 x 103 x 8 cm total

Angela and Hossein Valamanesh's works make poetry of existence, nature, place and time. Hossein's Breath, is a delicate bronze wall sculpture of twigs grafted together to resemble a bronchial tree and Where do you come from?, are maps of the world, woven together, invoking notions of migration and questions notions of place and home. Angela's new ceramic works, like Various friends and enemies no. 2, make links between plant and animal forms. 

Hossein and Angela come together to collaborate on the appropriately titled works Grafting 1–3, unique bronze wall sculptures made from cast twigs which have been reassembled into ambiguous scripts.

Hossein Valamanesh was born Iran, 1949, moving to Adelaide in 1973. Valamanesh employs installation, sculpture, drawing and photography. He graduated from South Australian School of Art, 1977 and has been exhibiting internationally for over 40 years. He has completed a number of major public art commissions including An Gorta Mor, memorial to the Great Irish Famine, 1999, Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney and 14 Pieces on North Terrace, Adelaide both with Angela Valamanesh. A survey of his work was held at the Art Gallery of South Australia (2001) and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (2002). He was awarded an Australia Council Fellowship 1998. He also completed the production design for When the Rain Stops Falling, first performed in the 2008 Adelaide Festival of Arts. Wakefield Press recently published a monograph of his work, Hossein Valamanesh, Out of nothingness. His work is included in most major public Australian art collections including the Art Gallery of New South Wales; Museum of Contemporary Art, Australia; National Gallery of Australia; National Gallery of Victoria; Art Gallery of Western Australia; and Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art.

Angela Valamanesh was born in Port Pirrie, South Austalia in 1953. Since graduating from the South Australian School of Art in 1977 her practice has primarily involved ceramics. In 1993 she completed an MA in Visual Arts at University of South Australia and in 1996 was awarded an Anne & Gordon Samstag International Visual Art Scholarship with a one year residency at Glasgow School of Art. Since then her practice has broadened to include a wider range of media and a number of collaborative public and studio works with Hossein Valamanesh. Angela has exhibited her work widely within Australia and internationally. Her recent works no longer make reference to functional ceramic objects but comprise of simple forms that often make links between plant, human and animal. In 2009, Wakefield Press published a monograph of her work, Angela Valamanesh, About being here. Angela recently completed a PhD at University of South Australia. Her work is included many major public and private collections including National Gallery of Australia; Art Gallery of South Australia; and Westpac Collection.