D.E. May’s most recent exhibition, The Artist as Archivist, at the Hallie Ford Museum of Art, exhibited a broad range of his work including intimate sketchbooks, templates, architectural models, and refined abstractions. May was a finalist in the 2008 Contemporary Northwest Art Award, at the Portland Art Museum. His work is in the permanent collections of the Albright-Knox Art Museum, Portland Art Museum, Tacoma Art Museum, The Hallie Ford Museum of Art, and in the private collections of established artists and prominent curators and collectors, including Blake Byrne and Werner Kramarsky.
The entirety of the show is presented in thick plastic, archival, document holders. Presenting the drawings in this simple modular form opens up a way of seeing a group of drawings as a whole.
The thick plastic sleeves have a surprising tactile quality and a screen-like presentation: x-ray, film, radar.
