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Cheer Me Up, Cheer Me On: Valerie George

Opening: Saturday June 12, 4 - 9 pm
Exhibition Dates: June 12 - July 4



Good Children Gallery is excited to present Cheer Me Up, Cheer Me On, new work by Valerie George. The exhibition will be display Saturday and Sundays, June 12th through July 4th 2021.

Cheer Me Up, Cheer Me On is an exhibition of new and existing work from multimedia artist Valerie George. Building on a body of work, entitled Welcome to My Party, that documents her experience of breast cancer at various stages of treatment through multimedia installation and photography, Cheer Me Up, Cheer Me On pays homage to performance within the artist's punk cultural lineage to unpack the ongoing transformation of her body and spirit.

By interweaving the aesthetics of celebration, punk music and culture, with nods to art historical references (17th century Dutch still life painting, 15th-century Italian paintings of the Reclining Venus, Body Art of the 1970s) George expresses sarcasm, humor, and resolve to articulate a deeply personal narrative. The result is a 'party'— a complex vehicle for mourning and celebration alike — and an address on gender, pain, bodily autonomy, and feminine power, full of candor." — Elizabet Elliot, Executive Director, Alabama Contemporary Art Center

Valerie George (she/her) is an artist whose work over the past 20 years has reflected holistically on art and life in the form of installation art, video, performance, sound, sculpture, photography, new media, drawing, collaborative projects, and curatorial practices. George received her MFA from the University of California, Davis, and is a Full Professor of Art at the University of West Florida, Arts Editor of Panhandler Magazine: A Journal of Art and Literature, a member of Good Children Gallery, and a Co-Founder of the 309 Punk Museum Project.