Virginia Mallon
Sirens of Tar Beach
oil on canvas, 30x40
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Virginia Mallon is a New York artist working in paint, photography and mixed media. Her art contemplates religious, historical, and mythological women, personal histories (including her own) and the psychological undercurrents of contemporary society.
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Influenced by social realism, political art, and feminist art, Mallon's work addresses the angst and trauma of modern America from a female perspective. This includes challenging topics like serial rapists, murders, forced birth, religious fanaticism, intergenerational trauma and the ongoing attacks on women's reproductive rights.
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Mallon experiments with painting on unconventional surfaces like burlap, slate, found objects, and cigar boxes, in addition to traditional oil on canvas. Recently, she has incorporated discarded roof tiles from a former state-run psychiatric hospital (open from 1885-1996) that is now a popular spot for urbex explorers. This slate offer unique and poignant historical surface on which to work. Using pieces of "broken shelter" from an asylum adds a powerful symbolism that Mallon finds fitting for our times.
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