{"id":1795,"date":"2021-07-05T16:39:46","date_gmt":"2021-07-05T16:39:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/?p=1795"},"modified":"2021-07-05T16:39:49","modified_gmt":"2021-07-05T16:39:49","slug":"queer-artists-whose-work-deserves-a-second-look","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/?p=1795","title":{"rendered":"Queer Artists Whose Work Deserves a Second Look"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Chris Dorsett<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are so many up and coming new artists who need to be heard. Their voices are now being heard loud and clear and like so many queer artist before them; they are certain to make their mark in history. Many more could have made this list, but the hope of these few is to represent many \u2014 and what binds them together isn’t nails, glue, paint or thread, but one common virtue amid this pivotal period for queer culture: When language just won’t cut it, art fills the void.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leilah Babirye, Sculptor<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After fleeing the dangerously homophobic conditions of her native Uganda and gaining asylum in the U.S., Babirye had only art to claim for herself \u2014 she left behind family, friends and her girlfriend for the sake of her own survival. Today, she can work from anywhere, creating forms \u201ccarved using traditional African techniques mixed with found objects including metal, plastic and wood,\u201d she said. A burned diary, she adds, reflects her own fears and desires about being out, while renderings of trans friends via paper or ceramics \u201crepresent some of the most vulnerable members of our community.\u201d She’s taken up activism, particularly as it relates to Uganda’s 2021 presidential election, and she said, \u201cHow I live as an out lesbian in the fight for the rights of my community reverberates from New York, through social media, back to Uganda, and all over the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cheyne Gallarde. Illustrator<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI love to transform queer people into the superheroes I see them as,\u201d Cheyne Gallarde said, \u201cpowerful and dynamic but with a touch of whimsy and camp.\u201d Aided by a background in offset printing, Gallarde uses \u201cdigital methods to achieve analog results,\u201d and his vintage-style renderings of everyone from Marsha P. Johnson to the cast of “Pose” have become so popular, MTV tapped him to make comic-book covers for all six Video of the Year nominees for this year’s VMAs. \u201cI focus on creating cover art because I want the viewer to imagine the rest of the story in their minds,\u201d said Gallarde, who, when recreating all manner of queer icons, dives into a great wealth of research. In addition to \u201cengaging the viewer’s imagination in this tap-tap-technology era,\u201d Gallarde said he is motivated to shake up who is depicted. \u201cOne look at my art makes it clear that I love drawing fierce females,\u201d he said, \u201cbut I also love showing trans men and bears represented alongside the muscled Adonises we\u2019ve grown up seeing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gio Black Peter. Painter<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA true artist is never not working,\u201d said Gio Black Peter, a world-renowned, Guatemalan-born painter. \u201cWhen I’m not painting, I’m thinking about what I want to paint.\u201d Known for his unique style of figure drawing \u2014 a touch exaggerated, endearing and provocative \u2014 Peter has pulled inspiration from his days in carpentry and gardening, which prompted plants to enter his art. He paints alone in his studio from 9 p.m. until morning, \u201cwhen New York is the most peaceful,\u201d he said. He admires artists like David Wojnarowicz, who presented fierce commentaries on AIDS before succumbing to complications from it. \u201cIt takes guts to put everything out there for public consumption,\u201d Peter Sid, adding, \u201cIf you want to know how I see the world, just look at my work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lex Barberio Photographer<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Miami-born photographer Lex Barberio likens her artistic process to cooking. \u201cOnce you’ve put in all the prep work,\u201d she said (in this case, concept development, test shots and more), \u201cthe execution becomes easier.\u201d Barberio said she hopes \u201cto expand people’s definitions of gender, sexuality and self,\u201d and one way she’s doing that is with her project \u201cThe Ambisextrous,\u201d wherein each of her subjects were shot while presenting as masculine, androgynous and feminine, and the resulting triptychs were merged via printing on holographic paper, allowing the viewer to watch the subjects transform in real time. The novel technique is a show-don’t-tell contribution to the ever-complex conversation around gender identity. \u201cIt visually articulates something that’s very hard to put in words,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nao Bustamante. Multimedia Artist<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nao Bustamante has been showing her performance art, sculpture, installation and video work across the globe for more than 25 years, and she still loves the rush of being in production, in a studio or in a performance. \u201cI’m always making,\u201d she said. \u201cThe trick is to find space in your mind to allow for ideas to unfold, and there’s a lot of procrastination involved. I always say, ‘If you\u2019re not procrastinating, you haven\u2019t started yet.’\u201d Known for her bold explorations of race, class and gender, Bustamante said she doesn’t so much make art for the LGBTQ community, but that the community holds and supports her so that she’s able to make her art (including works like \u201cAmerica, the beautiful,\u201d in which she sculpted her body in packing tape to \u201ccreate the perfect feminine form, which in turn becomes grotesque\u201d). She remains motivated to build a more just and loving world, and more reflective of her own lived experience. \u201cI stand at the intersection of many communities: queer, feminist, Latinx, artist and educator,\u201d she said. \u201cI live all those identities at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marco DaSilva. Painter<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This past summer, at New York’s Manny Cantor Center, DaSilva exhibited a series of paintings with combined canvases \u2014 each painting created the shape of the Empire State Building, and each bore the colors of a different flag representing a past lover. \u201cIt was inspired by unrequited desire,\u201d DaSilva said. \u201cI\u2019m influenced by navigating queer love in my work but coding it in a way that only I can fully understand. The viewer is left to pick up the pieces.\u201d Motivated by fellow queer artists and prone to embedding inexpensive baubles in his work (he’s made intricate textures with plastic gemstones, only to cover them with house paint), DaSilva is constantly using his art to negotiate his Brazilian roots with his life and upbringing in New York City. \u201cThrough this work I explore the idea of home and sense of belonging that is not rooted in one place,\u201d he said, \u201cbut often floating between many.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Austin James Smith. Designer<\/strong> \u201cSome people have trouble thinking that things outside of drawing, painting and sculpture can be considered in a fine art context,\u201d said Austin James Smith, whose face is typically the canvas for his \u201cdark but whimsical\u201d adornment work. \u201cI enjoy being outside that bubble.\u201d Smith \u2014 who recently launched an accessories line, Empty Jewels \u2014 said he needs to be fast and consistent when applying makeup, jewelry and more to his face, because he \u201ccan\u2019t pause covered in fake tattoos and just pick it back up the next day.\u201d Smith’s Instagram presence has boosted his popularity, and he’s grateful to live in New York, where he can express himself freely \u2014 a privilege underlined by his recent collaboration with a Russian artist on an Instagram filter. \u201cHe expressed how hard it is for him there,\u201d Smith said, \u201cand that seeing artists like me helps him escape daily negativity. I’m motivated to be my true self while also reaching people.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Chris Dorsett There are so many up and coming new artists who need to be heard. Their voices are now being heard loud and clear and like so many queer artist before them; they are certain to make their mark in history. Many more could have made this list, but the hope of these few is to represent many \u2014 and what binds them together isn’t nails, glue, paint or thread, but one common virtue amid this pivotal period for queer culture: When language just won’t cut it, art fills the void. Leilah Babirye, Sculptor After fleeing the dangerously homophobic conditions of her native Uganda and gaining asylum in the U.S., Babirye had only art to claim for herself \u2014 she left behind family, friends and her girlfriend for the sake of her own survival. Today, she can work from anywhere, creating forms \u201ccarved using traditional African techniques mixed with found objects including metal, plastic and wood,\u201d she said. A burned diary, she adds, reflects her own fears and desires about being out, while renderings of trans friends via paper or ceramics \u201crepresent some of the most vulnerable members of our community.\u201d She’s taken up activism, particularly as it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1796,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[2465,2460,2461,2459,2462,2464,2463,2458],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1795"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1795"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1795\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1797,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1795\/revisions\/1797"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}