The Torn Cloud
Danae Valenza and Simon McGuinness

Gertrude Contemporary was pleased to present a new Gertrude Glasshouse exhibition by Studio Artist Danae Valenza in collaboration with Simon McGuinness. Their exhibition, titled The Torn Cloud, reflected on the scale and potentiality of humans and their built environments. The artists wrote of the project:

Temporary/permanent. A scaffold bigger than the sum of its parts. Tall buildings cast shadows. From atop, people glint, pulse through streets with a hum. Flecks of stone in the pavement become a tiny phenomenon. Phone lines are electric with human voices. If you could reach so far to tear a cloud, where would you go from there?

Danae Valenza and Simon McGuinness are Melbourne-based creative practitioners who work together in many ways, often with friends and other people they meet. The Torn Cloud is their first solo exhibition together, comprising of sound, sculpture, painting, and a text by Al McKay.

As a Studio Artist, Danae Valenza has exhibited widely in Australia and internationally, including: ACCA, 2014; Gertrude Contemporary, 2010, 2014; Prawneg and Wolf, South Tyrol, Italy, 2013; Objectifs Centre for Photography and Film Making, Singapore, 2014; and Bus Projects, 2013; Blindside, 2011; Arts House, 2013; and Next Wave Festival, 2012. She has been awarded The Ian Potter Travelling Scholarship, 2013; a JUMP Mentorship Grant, 2013; an ArtStart Grant from the Australia Council of the Arts, 2012; and a city of Melbourne Docklands Grant, 2012. In 2015, she undertook the Australia Council studio residency at Suomenlinna Studio, Helsinki. Valenza has a Bachelor in Fine Arts from Monash University.