Mary Cox is an American artist whose work focuses on socially relevant themes in Athens, where she has lived for the past 19 years. Her new series, “Dreamers in Reality”, examines the bicycle as an alternative, environmentally-friendly means of transportation that can bring communities together and provide a contemporary aesthetic composed from the natural world, mechanics, and the human body. Mixed media works of various sizes on board or canvas, along with a smaller group of oil paintings on canvas, portray fantastical environments in which a game is played out between the real and the ideal.
A fan of the bicycle herself, she employs photography, printmaking and painting to produce images that are both representational and abstract.
Cox’s appreciation for the sheer beauty of the bicycle as object, both deconstructed and constructed, is demonstrated through photographs of bicycles and maps that are layered between repetitive motifs of bicycle parts and psychedelic patterns. Her bikes navigate the roads of Athens in a state of euphoria and transcendence. The dreamy atmosphere conveys a longing for a new reality, which seems at once possible and unattainable.
In her work, one can discern a wish to escape from reality on the one hand, but also a metaphor for the wider theme of change, particularly in a time where the need for inspiration, creativity and alternative solutions is more pressing than ever.
Mary Cox holds an MFA from San Francisco's Academy of Art University. In recent years her work has addressed social issues in Greece. Her series about immigration, entitled "From Another Place", was selected for participation in the Lulea Art Biennial 2011, in Sweden. In 2010 she participated in the Bicycle Film Festival at the Mihalis Cacoyannis Foundation. She has had seven solo shows both in Athens and abroad, and has participated in many group exhibitions.
WHERE:
ART ZONE 42 Gallery
Leoforos Vasileos Konstantinou 42, Athens
WHEN:
The exhibition runs until Saturday, 2 June 2012.
The gallery is open every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 17:30 - 21:00, and Wednesday and Saturday from 11:00 - 15:00
MAP:
Source: Elculture.gr
27.05.2012
