In occasion of the inaugural edition of ART SG at Singapore Art Week, Maison Valentino introduces a special collaboration with renowned Thai artist, Pinaree Sanpitak, “Breast Stupas Valentino” featuring the iconic and timeless Valentino Toile Iconographe pattern.
‘Breast Stupas Valentino’ incorporates sculptures by the artist that includes a new sculpture commission as well as an ephemeral work, Breast Stupa Cookery, both specially created for Maison Valentino. A dialogue is ignited between Valentino Toile Iconographe, and Pinaree Sanpitak’s unique and multi-faceted approach.
Sanpitak’s exploration is at once sensorial as it is real, the forms take space in the environment, the breast igniting a sense of familiarity. The breast motif itself resembles the sepulchral monument, the stupa, found throughout South and Southeast Asia as well as ritualistic bowls used in daily life. The bowl is a vessel, a symbol of bounty and life, one that holds water and milk, a representation of birth. It is a continuing exploration of the potential of the body and of the female experience.
The Valentino Toile Iconographe – a liberating and unique celebration of the VLogo - breathes across the surface. It converses with the environment that surrounds it, it expands, rediscovers, it creates and recreates. It signifies and re-signifies, becoming a symbol of diversity and a multitude of possibilities.
Sanpitak’s, “Breast Stupas Valentino” continues her exploration of the bodily form as a vessel of experience, perception, and the sense of the body in space. Using the Valentino Toile Iconographe, Sanpitak’s new sculptures stand in stark contrast to the stainless steel “Breast Stupa Topiaries” 2013, their grand majestic form is soft to touch but they take space and carries with it an additional layer on the surface, one that signifies beauty and liberation, embedded in the interwoven logo of Maison Valentino. The Breast Stupas wrapped in the Valentino Toile Iconographe, a sculptural duo in black and red, an invitation to the Valentino community to engage and explore.
“It is a celebration of the body as the site of the sacred and the sensual, I see the Valentino Toile Iconographe on the bodies of models and on my own sculptures in a similar view to the Maison’s values of freedom, community, inclusivity, dream and interacting with the stainless- steel sculptures as the Maison says, ‘harmony of contradictions’.” - Pinaree Sanpitak
Breast Stupa Cookery Valentino is the ephemeral part of this holistic collaboration, an invitation to eat and drink from vessels created by the artist, and a menu created in collaboration with Chef Joe Napol Jantraget and Chef Saki Hoshino. Vessels turned upside down to contain liquid and nourishment, the body is left nurtured and full.
The Maison continues, in a conscious and progressive way, its support for culture, showcasing the freedom of artistic expression and a commitment towards the new generation at a global and local scale in which it operates.
ART SG will conclude in celebration with Soho House presents ART SG Closing Party at the Warehouse Hotel on 14th January 2023. The ‘Breast Stupas Valentino’ will be on display at the lobby of The Warehouse Hotel starting from January 10th till January 25th 2023 and forms part of a larger immersive art experience and conversation curated by Chomwan Weeraworawit and conceived with Pinaree Sanpitak, including ‘Breast Stupa Topiary, 2013’ a set of two steel structures that juxtapose the environment, unique vessels and objects installed on the shelves in The Den where she will weave a story about “Breast Stupa Cookery” and iconic codes of Valentino.
Following the period of installation, Maison Valentino will donate proceeds from the sale of ‘Breast Stupas Valentino’ to United Women Singapore, a fund that is dedicated to women’s empowerment and gender equality.
