TRANSFER is pleased to present the first solo exhibition at the gallery from Clement Valla. ‘Surface Survey’ s a new solo exhibition by Clement Valla, comprised of digital prints and 3D printed sculptures that are structured around concepts of archaeology, computer software, meaning-making, and images that are not meant for human consumption.

The subjects are varied: from sculptural antiquities he photographed in the Metropolitan Museum’s collections, to contemporary ephemera, to 19th Century inventions. The work uncovers subtle shapes and textures that illustrate these objects in unexpected ways and cast a new light the algorithms that digitized them.

Valla’s work reflects on the human potential of meaning-making in unfamiliar, software-created images. He is interested in the relationship between how what a computer reads is so distant from what a human will understand. This interest extends into the language of computer image-making, suggesting an archaeology of computer software, whose extractions reveal the computer’s systematic logic.

ABOUT THE ARTIST///

CLEMENT VALLA (b. 1979, Paris) is Brooklyn-based artist. His recent collaborative show Iconoclashes was exhibited at Mulherin + Pollard Projects in New York, and his work was included in the Paddles On! auction at Phillips, organized by Lindsay Howard. His work has also been exhibited at The Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis; Museum of the Moving Image, New York; Thommassen Galleri, Gothenburg; Bitforms Gallery, New York; DAAP Galleries, University of Cincinatti; 319 Scholes, New York; and the Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum, Milwaukee.

His work has been cited in The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, TIME Magazine, El Pais, Huffington Post, Rhizome, Domus, Wired, The Brooklyn Rail, Liberation, and on BBC television. Valla received a BA in Architecture from Columbia University and an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in Digital+Media. He is currently an associate professor of Graphic Design at RISD.