Sophie Podolski — Le pays où tout est permis — Villa Vassilieff — Exhibition — Slash Paris

Past: April 21 → July 7, 2018

Curator: Caroline Dumalin / WIELS

Villa Vassilieff pre­sents the first exhi­bi­tion ded­i­cated to the Belgian artist Sophie Podolski in Paris, fol­lowing its pre­sen­ta­tion at WIELS, Brussels ear­lier this year. Born in 1953 in Brussels, Sophie Podolski was, during her life­time, mostly known as a poet, gath­ering the interest of the Parisian lit­erary avant-garde. Her work is emblem­atic of a time marked by sexual lib­er­a­tion, anti-psy­chi­atry and a dis­en­chanted youth. In just a few years (between 1968 and 1974, the date of her sui­cide at the age of 21), she pro­duced a remark­able graphic work, as well as a book: Le pays où tout est permis (The Country Where Everything Is Permitted) in 1972. This young autodidact wrote in an expres­sive and provoca­tive, unre­strained style about life, pop­ular cul­ture and the con­formism of society.

While writing and drawing are almost inex­tri­cable for Podolski, during her life­time she was mostly con­sid­ered a poet. The exhi­bi­tion focuses on her visual work and her very per­sonal iconog­raphy to shed light on it through the pre­sen­ta­tion of works on paper, made in India ink, pastel and col­ored pencil, next to the pages of the orig­inal manuscript of her sin­gular book. The exhi­bi­tion also fea­tures the film Dans la Maison (du Montfaucon Research Center) directed by Joëlle de La Casinière, a friend of Sophie Podolski who has kept her works until today.

Sophie Podolski: The Country Where Everything Is Permitted, was presented at WIELS, Brussels from January 20th to April 1st, 2018. The exhibition is produced by WIELS, Brussels, in partnership with Bétonsalon — Center for Art and Research and Villa Vassilieff / Pernod Ricard Fellowship, Paris.