“The greatest battle we face as human beings is the battle to protect our true selves from the self the world wants us to become.”  — e.e. cummings

In Character explores the physical and psychological masks we wear and how these versions of ourselves overlap and diverge as we navigate our relationships with others. The exhibition features a new body of work by Amanda Linn McInerney, complemented by works from Veronica Ceci, Rodell Warner and Michael Villarreal. Working in a variety of 2D and 3D media, each artist provides a unique stance on perception of the self. These perspectives can be contradictory or complementary, encapsulating a range of emotions like confusion, grief, duplicity, and empowerment.

Amanda Linn McInerney is a printmaker and sculptor whose recent work involves cultivating, dyeing, and creating forms with scobies (an organic material grown through the process of fermentation). The process of growing the scobies aligns with her desire to create sustainable art that focuses on mortality and cultural expression. She has contributed to and shown work with artist nonprofits and mentoring programs like the Women Printmakers of Austin, Chula League, ICOSA Collective and The Contemporary Austin. In addition to her artistic work, Amanda is also an educator, teaching Design to secondary-level students.

Veronica Ceci is an intermedia artist whose work reconfigures the viewers’ relationship to the human element of institutional cleanliness. The artist makes undervalued labor conspicuous through intense materiality, repetition, iconography and lived performance. Ceci’s pieces are held in many collections including.the Library of Congress, the National Women’s History Museum, the Zuckerman Museum of Art and the Autry Museum.

Michael Villarreal’s work is influenced by the property of his childhood home in rural Texas. Working in sculpture and painting, he focuses on objects that make up a household environment in order to reference memory, time, place, and self. He has exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions nationwide. His work has been featured in several publications such as New American Paintings, and Art Maze Magazine. In 2019, he was a recipient of the Nebraska Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship. Villarreal currently teaches at Texas State University in San Marcos, TX and is a member of ICOSA Collective in Austin, TX.

Rodell Warner is a Trinidadian artist working primarily in new media and photography. His works have been exhibited at The Whitney Museum of American Art in 2016, The National Gallery of Jamaica in 2016, and at the 10th Berlin Biennale in 2018. Rodell is a recipient of the 2011 Commonwealth Connections International Arts Residency and the 2014 summer residency at NLS Kingston. Rodell lives and works between Port of Spain in Trinidad, Kingston in Jamaica, and Austin, Texas, in the US.