Origines
January 26 - March 1, 2024
Gallerie Alain Guthrac, Paris, France
The world is in constant upheaval. We are individuals on the move. Most of the time, these movements are punctual and limited in time, and whether for work or leisure, we come and go. Sometimes, however, they are long-lasting or permanent. This is known as emigration. Sometimes it's a choice, often an obligation. But emigrating is by no means easy, because leaving home means leaving behind relatives, friends, customs... your roots, in short. You then have to immerse yourself in the rules of life in your adopted country, because blending into the flow of the population seems to guarantee a better life. But this impregnation does not mean forgetting one's origins... (Avelino Abarca)
More info.
Border Biennial / Bienal Fronteriza
December 15, 2023 - April 14, 2024
Museo de Arte de Ciudad Juarez,
Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, MX
El Paso Museum of Art, El Paso,
Texas, US
The 2024 Border Biennial / Bienal Fronteriza 2024 focuses on the unique identity of the borderland, which includes a diversity of experiences. The exhibition explores how artists define the region and what it means to them. Works on display speak to how artists in the borderland experience history, gender, culture, race, sexuality, food, environment, and politics. While most focus on the United States / Mexico border, the exhibition does provides an opportunity to reflect on a broader definition of borders and their conditions worldwide.
More info.
Queer Sublime
September 22 - December 2, 2023
Visual Arts Center (VAC)
The University of Texas at Austin. Austin, Texas
The Gothic literary tradition provided a unique outlet for expressions of ‘otherness’ within the realm of narrative prose fiction. It dealt in characters and situations that existed outside of the narrow limits of societal norms. Set in castles, haunted estates, and other gloomily incongruous locations, works written in the Gothic style trafficked in the intersection of romance and horror to create a sublime aesthetic experience. Evocative fantasy and melodrama, emblematic features of the Gothic sublime, could be construed as precursors to certain modes of Queer expression today (e.g. camp, a form of highly stylized, sometimes ironic, and often overwrought expression).
More info.
Celestial to Terrestrial and the Trans Void:
The Work of Andres Payan Estrada
August 22, 2023
Decorating Dissidence
written by matt lambert
The current work of Andres Payan Estrada focuses on the celestial (collages of disco balls) and the terrestrial (the weaving of dance floor images) which between the two offers a void of flux, a space of possibility; what theorist José Esteban Muñoz uses to illustrate queerness as ”a warm illumination of a horizon imbued with potentiality”.
More info.
Queer Threads
May 12 - August 20, 2023
San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles
San Jose, California
Queer Threads is a traveling group exhibition and coffee-table book exploring contemporary lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer experiences through fiber and textile traditions. This latest iteration spotlights 38 works by 37 artists with roots in the American West, Northwest, and Southwest, as well as work from the museum’s collection. From the impeccably finished to the intentionally raw, many works are fully executed through thread-based processes such as crochet, embroidery, quilting, and weaving, while others interact with animation, clay, light, metal, and photography. Each artist's use of material choices and technical finishes suggest poetic and subversive intentions.
More info.
Thread Lightly
Desember 09, 2022 - January 07, 2023
Lauren Powell Projects
Los Angeles, CaliforniaTread Lightly is itself an imperative. It asks the gallery visitors to take care as they enter and assess the work presented before them. Who or what will be harmed if this is not headed is less clear. Historically artists have been thought of as agents possessing power over the viewer. From ancient craft objects believed to give protective powers to the 20th century museum goer weeping in front of a Rothko, the viewer is the agent being acted upon. And in a time profoundly impacted by the effects of a global pandemic there is perhaps no verb choice that would give us greater pause than Tolstoy’s when he defines art as something that leaves the viewer “infected by an experience.” Simultaneously, the artists are here presented as the vulnerable party as they reveal to us scars and anxieties within these works. Just as Yeats pleaded to the object of his affection “Tread softly because you tread on my dreams,” so too these artists ask us to receive what they are offering with an awareness of the fragility inherent in the deeply personal nature of its content.
More info.