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May 2017On view May 5th – May 21st, 2017Opening Reception: First Friday, May 5th, 6pm – 10pmChristopher Carroll and Lilly McElroy enact gestures through which they challenge, defeat, observe, soothe, and worship nature. They construct representations of the bucolic and carry out rituals in the forest. While on a roughly constructed stage in the middle of the woods, the artists perform actions that range from the exploratory to the absurd in an effort to both dismantle traditional, romantic images of nature and reimagine them from a contemporary perspective. Viewers are left with documentation of these actions - a series of vignettes, including a man arm wrestling a tree, a line-dancing satyr, and a woman trapped by the image of nature. The performances display the artists’ sincere yet ultimately futile attempts to interact with the forest. Carroll and McElroy intrude upon a wilderness in which they can never completely belong yet confront this separation, demonstrating their own hubristic tendencies in the process.Christopher Carroll’s work, though disparate in media – encompassing video, sculpture, painting/printmaking, and installation – is, ultimately, absurd, depressing, frustrating and potentially beautiful. Despite the recurring themes of defeat found throughout his practice Carroll believes that his work is not that of a cynic but instead that of a romantic; its central operation is to make the insignificant appear monumental, the empty full, and the shallow deep.christophercarroll.orgLilly McElroy grew up in southern Arizona amongst cowboys riding bulls, coyotes howling on moonlit nights, beautiful sunsets, and vicious brawls. McElroy’s practice often revolves around translating those cliches and experiences into epic photographs and playfully antagonistic videos. The artistic projects McElroy pursues are a reflection of her complex relationship with the American West and the landscape in general, in order to explore what it means to be an American in a time of diminished expectations.lillymcelroy.com