BE THERE
"We are the Lucky Ones"Presented by Viridian Artists, Inc. September 30, 2008- October 25, 2008Reception: October 4, 5:00 pm - 8:00 pmMay DeVineyRecent Work by Mat DeViney We Are the Lucky Ones Dates:Sept. 30 - Oct. 25, 2008 Reception: Oct. 4th, 4-8pm Artist's Talk: Oct 18th, 4pm We are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones. Most people are never going to die because they are never going to be born. ... We know this because the set of possible people allowed by our DNA so massively outnumbers the set of actual people. In the teeth of these stupefying odds it is you and I that are privileged to be here, privileged with eyes to see where we are and brains to wonder why. Richard Dawkins, environmental biologist May DeViney wonders why about many things: Why are women relegated to the most menial tasks and life at the periphery at the same time they are idealized in images of perfection? Why is the welfare of lives - both human and wildlife - cast aside to benefit oil company profits? Why are Americans bereft of work and losing ground while Chinese people work overtime and also lose ground? Why are the United States and Russia reverting to a Cold War stance that has historically proved debilitating for both sides? At Viridian Artists, May DeViney continues several series of works that explore questions like these. Her work in acrylic, mixed media, collage, watercolor, found objects, detritus and costume installations sometimes emulates antiques and historical styles, evoking the depth of time invested in long-standing social and political issues. Her style is by turns. naive, obsessive and technological. Modem-day Madonnas toil, Nature becomes instruments of Cold War or turns on its exploiters, terrorists of every stripe lurk in the shadows or the imagination, burka-wearing women and nuns regard the strangeness and threat each sees in the other, memories and America's military-industrial history come out in the wash. Unifying these cacophonous elements is DeViney's curiosity and concern. May DeViney seeks to make her art address the problems she wonders about, and possibly explore solutions with rationalism and. outrage, but not without humor and optimism because we are indeed the lucky ones who are privileged to be here and can affect the things about which we wonder.
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