A stone's throw from the Fine Arts Academy, in the heart of Saint Germain des Prés, the Bettina gallery welcomes the artist Laurence de Valmy from October 2021.

The contemporary art gallery founded by Virginie Lorient in 2013 welcomes painters, sculptors and photographers. The artists represented are all the result of an encounter: “I work with contemporary artists, because I am as attached to an artistic personality as to the works themselves.” shares Virginie Lorient. “I fell in love with Laurence de Valmy's work and I am happy to be able to share it with the Parisian public”. 

De Valmy is known for her conceptual paintings that revisit the history of art through anachronistic Instagram posts asking "What if Instagram had existed at the time of Picasso, Warhol and O'Keeffe?

Launched in 2010, Instagram is the preferred platform for visual artists, art galleries or collectors and the pandemic has accelerated this phenomenon.

If social networks had existed in their time, Basquiat, Modigliani or Morisot, to name a few, would post their work via their smartphones. Painters, detractors, patrons and collectors would display contrasting reactions, among other applause and likes. 

Her work captures the trend of our time and links it to the history of art

The artist Laurence Valmy chose this frame, the screen of our mobile phones open on Instagram, to revisit the works of the great artists who have shaped the history of art. Through this contemporary prism, she takes down the works from museum walls and makes them tangible by offering them to the circle of Instagram friends. By recreating conversations that could have existed on social networks, she plays with the temporal gap and creates a strange feeling of intimacy with the painters. Likes and smileys constitute as many entries into their worlds, as many invitations to immerse oneself in the study of the canvas, of its historical and artistic context. 

Laurence de Valmy shares the stories behind iconic works of art and for each work the artist does research so that the dialogues and dates are historically precise while remaining humorous. “I love art history and above all I am fascinated by personal stories and relationships: how artists were connected with others. What prompted them to create their work? Or who did they do it for? That's what my series is about, ”says de Valmy. 

A positive eye on social media 

Some would argue that social media can make us feel out of touch with real life and that it contributes to misinformation. And that is surely true in many cases. De Valmy has a positive experience with social media “artists can connect with other artists, galleries, collectors around the world. I have met so many friends through these networks and have been spotted by galleries on Instagram. It has been a game-changer in the art market and it will probably change the way we study art history in the future ”.

A first Parisian exhibition for the artist

The French artist, living in the United States, saw her career take off in her adopted country. Her work has also been exhibited in Europe and Asia and yet this is her first in Paris.

Laurence de Valmy confides: “I am happy to exhibit my paintings for the first time in Paris, which is my city of heart. This represents a new step that is has a lot of sentimental value”.

About Galerie Bettina 

The Bettina gallery founded by Virginie Lorient in 2013 welcomes contemporary artists working in different mediums: painting, sculpture or photography. In a warm setting, the gallery is keen to present artists selected with passion, as explained by its founder. "I want to know everything. How the play was made and why. I document myself, I immerse myself, little by little, with the artistic universe of each of them. I am fascinated by the technique and the complexity. It is often a primary criterion in my choices. A work must be autonomous. She must be able to speak for herself, without needing to tell. She must touch in the first few seconds. The time for reading and explanations comes second. When this crush is shared with a collector, I feel useful. I have the feeling that I have revealed a passage that could have remained secret. ”

Bettina gallery , 2 rue Bonaparte, 75006 Paris 01 46 33 72 98

Metro: Saint-Germain-des-Prés (Line 4) Monday to Friday, 2 p.m. - 7 p.m. Saturday, 11 a.m. - 7

IG p.m.@galeriebettina

For more information: contact @ galeriebettina.com 

About Laurence de Valmy

Laurence de Valmy invites us to reflect on the links between artists over time and the relations between Art and social networks today. The artist combines his knowledge of the history of art and painting to appropriate iconic works and share their stories through anachronistic fictitious Instagrams.

His works have been exhibited in group exhibitions and art fairs in the United States, Europe and Asia. In 2018, she exhibited alongside Andy Warhol in Munich at the Museum of Urban and Contemporary Art (MUCA), in 2019 she made a solo exhibition in New York at the Michele Mariaud Gallery. In 2020, her work appeared on HBO alongside Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant in the Golden Globe-nominated series The Undoing and exhibited in Korea at the CICA Museum. In 2021, she created a wall art installation for Summit Public Art (NJ).

Laurence de Valmy works and lives in California, USA.

laurencedevalmy.com

IG @laurencedevalmy

ldevalmy@gmail.com