LUCID SELF

Opening: 2nd Friday, Oct 9, 5-8pm

Closing: Thursday, Nov 5, 5-8pm

Gallery hours after opening: Thursdays 5-8pm, Saturdays 1-5pm

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How do we see ourselves and how does the artist express themselves clearly and honestly? Are. “you” your body?  Who are you this very minute and how does this differ from who you were two years ago?  This exhibition by three Tulsa-based artists examines these questions along with additional questions about self identity.

Other events during this exhibition:

October 15:   THE GREEN CARPET Video Screening Evening with Gregory Messenger.  6:30-7:30pm.   $10.  

October 22:  Demonstration by Gregory Messenger. 6:30-7:30pm, No Charge

October 18: The Me Within Me  7:00pm. Performance by Ra Vashtar. $18.  

Mery McNett Bio:

Mery McNett is a Tulsa-based multimedia artist and a graduate of the University of Tulsa where she studied painting under artist Mark Lewis. She has worked in the Tulsa Arts scene for over 15 years, creating graphic visuals, arts programming and teaching various forms of art at institutions such as Living Arts, ahha Tulsa, and Gilcrease Museum.

Artist Statement: My work explores the wonder, imagination, and vulnerability of being human. I am drawn to a child-like way of seeing the world—where the strange, colorful, and magical can exist alongside the ordinary. The masks that appear throughout my paintings are not meant to conceal, but to reveal: flesh that blooms outward like a human flower, transforming the body into something otherworldly and alive. Flowers become a language for growth, identity, and the beautiful weirdness of becoming.

Animals appear as spirit guides, quiet companions who inhabit the space between the familiar and the mystical. Together, the figures, flowers, and animals create a personal mythology—one rooted in curiosity, play, and the belief that there is magic hiding just beneath the surface.

Gregory Messenger Bio:

I'm a transgender horror artist. My work is shaped by my nightmares caused by years of religious abuse, transphobia, dysphoria, anorexia, and misogyny. Creating from my dreams, I hope I can use my trauma to help other trans people who are going through what I was and to encourage others to understand how this feels for a child growing up without support for who they are. 

Ra Vashtar Bio:

Ra Vashtar is an artist who frequently discards the title in favor of being called a "professional eccentric," a "fancy boy," a "villain," or "unemployed." His work spans from performance, fashion, visual media, and writing, often noted for his over-the-top persona and dynamic style. 

Ra frequently explores themes of his gay and transgender identities, his isolated upbringing in small town Oklahoma, and existential questions through projects that are often satirical, darkly comedic, and deeply vulnerable.

Artist Statement: My work for Lucid Self centers around the theme that throughout our lives, there is constantly a part of ourselves trying to get our own attention. For me, it comes out as a voice begging to dress outlandishly, to be expressive, and to let loose and play. I chose to explore this through work that I designed to perfectly grab my own attention: watercolors styled after caricatures and 80's fashion illustration, and mirrors in which the frame speaks to the latent desires of a bold identity.