John McVay (he/him, b. 1985, American) works and lives in Las Vegas, Nevada. McVay teaches art at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where he recently earned an MFA degree in Fine Arts. A recent transplant to Las Vegas, McVay has spent most of his life in Arizona, between Phoenix and Tucson. Immersion in the punk and metal scenes in Arizona has shaped McVay’s visual language; a punk collage sensibility and D.I.Y. aesthetic threads McVay’s work together like patches on a denim vest. Living in Tucson, John worked at a used bookstore for 7 years, gaining insight into both the monetary and cultural valuation of pop nostalgia. He has an affinity for collecting things and searching thrift stores for materials, seeking items that others may think belong in a landfill (cassette tapes, dirty stuffed animals, old magazines, records). His interest in deconstructing the performance of masculinity, in the influence of the media on social conditioning, and also a critical examination of whiteness are themes that inform paper artworks, noise music, video performances, installations, and soft sculptures.