Material Persuasions: Victoria May & Valerie Wilcox

Launch LA is pleased to present Material Persuasions featuring the seductively tactile work of Victoria May and Valerie Wilcox. May and Wilcox manipulate and combine humble and salvaged materials cast off from the continual stream of human consumption. 

Both artists share an interest in the stories behind the materials they find and their vulnerability to forces beyond our control. Past functions and histories become playfully re-contextualized—and in doing so, address the struggle for status in the face of inevitable human fallibility.

The respective processes of May and Wilcox take inspiration from a range of construction methods, from sewing to building, while allowing the inherent patina and decay of a found object or material to add layers of meaning to the work. While the two artists approach the actual creation of their work differently, they both deftly blend intent with accident. Elements such as salvaged wood and rubber transcend their base materiality and reflect an optimism in society's ability to reinvent itself.

Victoria May was born and raised in Los Angeles and has lived and worked extensively in the Bay Area. She received her MFA from San Jose State University and her BA from UCLA. Her work pulls from the industrial and domestic realms, blending a wide range of materials to create both crude and painstaking mixed-media sculpture, wall works and installations that address the tenderness and absurdity in the human condition. She has taught and exhibited widely and is an avid advocate for material re-use.

Valerie Wilcox is an internationally shown and collected artist based in Los Angeles. She received her BFA in Graphic Design from Cal State University Long Beach and continued her fine art studies at Otis College of Art & Design and Art Center College of Design. Her mixed-media sculptural work looks at giving perceived flaws and imperfections a definitive new life. Her practice combines the geometries of Minimalism with the spontaneous spirit of the New Casualists and the works are always distinguishable by their unorthodox and joyful approach to color and form.