Joo-young Lee & Mary Valverde, at Diaspora Vibe Gallery

Mary Valverde, Untitled, 2008. Installation, mixed media 120 x 48. Courtesy Diaspora Vibe Gallery

December 1, 2008 - January 26, 2009

Far from the commercial super heroes of comics and movies, Paper Man lives in the lightness and destructibility of a sheet of paper. A breeze can blow him away. But when Paper Man allies himself and finds emotional unity with his fellow man, his strength grows with the fertility of common interests.

Underlying the iconic and thematic expression is a notion that democracy rises out of principles of equality. Yet, in Joo-youn’s view of the human condition, overcoming the essential alienation of the individual remains the immense challenge with despair always a risk and love always a hope. 

Joo-youn has an MFA in Printmaking from the Graduate School of Sungshin Women’s University and a BFA from the College of Fine Art Chugye University. She has exhibited in Korea, China, France, and Japan. This is her first exhibit in the United States.

Sharing the exhibit space with Joo-youn is Mary Valverde. Her work is informed by memory, ritual and culture. Recently she’s been working in large-scale site-specific installations, investigating numeric and geometric patterns in daily life.  She’s interested in how patterns both strengthen and beautify physical spaces, our bodies, and our psyches. She transforms contemporary materials, accessible in the everyday, into abstract installations that can be read multiple ways; i.e., random patterns, pure design or expressions of divine order.

Mary A. Valverde received her BFA from the School of Visual Arts, NYC in 1999. Her work has been included in “Fragmentations of the Self,” Rush Arts Gallery, NY, 2006; “Queens International 2006,” Queens Museum of Art, NY 2006; “Tropicalisms,” Jersey City Museum, NJ, 2006 and “The S-Files 2007,” El Museo del Barrio, NY. Mary has participated in “Emerge 8″ at Aljira, Center for Contemporary Art and is currently an artist in residence at the Artist Alliance Studio Program in Lower Manhattan. Mary was born in NYC and is currently exhibiting at Diaspora Vibe Gallery. 

Diaspora Vibe Gallery 3938 North Miami Ave, 2nd Level. Miami’ s Design District, Miami, FL, 33127

T: 305 573 4046

www.diasporavibe.net