Search
Art & Culture

Fondation Valmont Opens ‘White Mirror’ in New York

Inspired by Hansel and Gretel, the installation originally appeared during the Venice Biennale

By Jill Sieracki
Art installation featuring white pillars adorned with white and gold face sculptures in a modern gallery setting.
Installation shot of Didier Guillon’s “White Mirror” exhibition in New York. Photo: Mangue Banzima

Man standing outside art exhibition entrance with "White Mirror" signage on large glass window.
Didier Guillon, head of the Fondation Valmont, outside of his exhibition “White Mirror” in Tribeca. Mangue Banzima

For those who didn’t have a chance to visit the Valmont Palazzo during the Venice Biennale, the Fondation Valmont will mount a special version of “Hansel & Gretel—White Traces in Search of Your Self” at New York’s 393 NYC space in Tribeca in October. Recast as “White Mirror,” the exhibition of 30 artworks was conceived to break down the boundaries between the observer and the observed.

Recommended: Inside the New Valmont Art Foundation in Venice

The mastermind behind the show is Didier Guillon, who serves as president and artistic director of Valmont Group and Fondation Valmont. He devised a mix of honeycombed totems, ghostly white and golden faces as well as golden balls. “A little girl visiting the exhibition with her parents asked me why so many masks,” says Guillon of the show’s first iteration. “I told her that masks are like the small crumbs of Hansel and Gretel. They will help you find your way in life.”

Art installation with white pillars, sculpted faces, and yellow crumpled material on the floor, creating an abstract scene.
Installation shot of Didier Guillon’s “White Mirror” exhibition in New York. Mangue Banzima

Art installation with wall-mounted sculpted faces and central display featuring colorful artwork, in a modern gallery setting.
Installation shot of Didier Guillon’s “White Mirror” exhibition and the “Alice in Doomedland” challenge made as a partnership with Publicolor inviting four groups of students to create prototypes to incorporate into an exhibition at the Venice Art Biennale in 2021. Mangue Banzima

The concept is on view in Manhattan from October 25 through November 3, followed by a trip to Munich.

Abstract art installation with three sculpted faces mounted on a white panel and a gold foil-wrapped object in the foreground.
Artworks from Fondation Valmont’s exhibition “White Mirror.” Courtesy of Valmont Group

A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2019 Late Fall issue in the section “The Artful Life.” Subscribe to the magazine.