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Dianna Matherly once found a piece of black scrap wood in the trash. She glued a picture of a buxom blonde in the lower right corner and scratched the first words of the disco song "I Will Survive" into the wood. "First I was afraid, I was petrified! Kept thinking I could never live without you by my side." These words had special meaning to Matherly, for she was now living without something that had been with her for her entire life: her breasts. The 37-year-old artist has battled cancer twice, at ages 21 and 31. "That piece was me being playful about my cancer," Matherly says. Like her art, being playful has helped her through the ordeal.
The piece of wood, no larger than 5" by 7", was purchased by a man who had lost something that had been by his side-his lover, a victim of AIDS. He later told Matherly that he kept the piece on his nightstand. Not only did the piece remind him of his deceased partner, but it reminded him that he could survive.
Dianna Matherly is a survivor, and her works shown at the Tristan Gallery, which she co-owns with her partner Jessie Kalelkar, are glimpses into her struggles. Moreover, they reach out to others, express the feelings, and chronicle some of the experiences we all know-vulnerability, loneliness, being beaten down by life, and allowing ourselves to find strength in love.
The centerpieces of her show are simple black and white pastel works on paper consisting of simplifed human figures that seem to trail off at the hands and feet. Matherly achieves this effect by blowing the pastel dust off the page or rubbing it with her fingers. The works consist usually of two figures, one in a position of surrender or defeat-on the ground, or seemingly asleep or unconscious-and the other rising or aiding the first. "My works are figurative, non-gender and with them I tackle the feelings we all have," she says.
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