August 23 - September 22, 2019
Beverly Ryan– Drone Zone
Mixed Media Installation
Main Gallery
Opening Reception
Friday, August 23, 2019
6:00 - 9:00 pm
Free and Open to the Public
Closing Artist Talk
Sunday, September 22, 2019
2:00 pm
Free and Open to the Public
Artist Statement
June 2019
My work is about discovery. I gather inspiration from everywhere. Sometimes the work starts from ideas and sometimes from an exploration of materials. My interest in the human condition leads me to create series about social, environmental, political topics.
DRONE ZONE is based on my questions about drone technology and its use. Drones, used for warfare, for surveillance, for commercial delivery, for information and intelligence gathering, for crime prevention and investigation are already in place. Weaponized UAVs have become a routine, invisible tool for "taking out the bad guys" in countries other than our own. In this exhibit I am exploring issues of sovereignty, power to make the target choices and the implications of the new "swarm" technology.
Some of the work addresses facial recognition software. We are already recorded by cameras in our public lives – in stores, toll booths, on street corners. We don't even notice. And now drones use cameras. I ask myself, "Do I want a drone to fly over my home, photograph and identify me?"
Drones, like any technology, can be harmless and useful... or not. Who controls the attack drones and surveillance drones? For what unknown purposes are they and will they be used?
Do we have privacy and safety? I believe it depends on where you live, on who you are, on what "side" you are on.
Boundaries will be crossed. Designations of drone free zones will be ignored. Such are the implications of the widespread use of drones.
Brief Biography
I have had a convoluted career path. I reinvented myself away from the sciences in the 1980s and gradually became a full-time artist and art teacher. I taught art history at Montgomery College, Maryland, ("retired" from that job two years ago) and continue to teach painting at The Art League School, Alexandria, VA, since 2003.
I have been a resident artist in the Torpedo Factory Art Center, Alexandria since 2000.
More information: www.beverlyryan.com
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