Artist Research || Supporting Documentation

Year 3 Fine Art || BA3b

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Kehinde Wiley

Kehinde Wiley is an artist who I have looked at previously as his work is very celebratory of culture and identity. The latter of which is very prominent in my practice.

Wiley is an African American painter who is changing the face of portraiture. His paintings feature black figures against bright, patterned backgrounds. His agenda with these paintings is to challenge viewers' perceptions of how black masculinity has become synonymous with fear and violence in the US. Wiley's work directly relates to my work formally in the use of portraits and patterns for effect. While his concept is a bit more political, I feel that the calm aesthetic nature in which it is portrayed matches how I compose my paintings. As a gay man himself he displays subtle gestures in many of his paintings that elude to homosexuality which lies parallel with my own work as I am experimenting with both over and covert was of displaying homosexuality through art. In his work he often references old masters paintings for the pose of a figure similarly to me. In previous work I have found myself looking at the Indian masters paintings as a guide for my composition. As much of my recent work is exploring my gay identity I have been looking to who I would call masters of the gay art scene, Wiley being one of them.

Wiley depicts his larger than life figures in a heroic manner, giving them poses that connote power and spiritual awakening. Within my own work I have been choosing poses that evoke a feeling of power and strength whilst also displaying beauty. In my recent work I have been playing with the composition of my paintings to evoke different kinds of emotions, both positive and negative as my experience as a gay man has been filled with both positive and negative experiences.

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Wiley's use of colour is very clever, the palettes he chooses and how articulate he is with his placement. Even though the colours he uses are very bold they don't take away from the figure, instead they compliment it which can be very hard to do when you're doing realism as well as patterns and bright colours. Even the way he adjusts the highlights on the skin based on what colour background is.

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In my practice fabric and pattern has started to become prominent so I have really looked to Wiley's work to learn from him and how he applies pattern and fabric to his paintings. I really appreciate the way the patterns surround the figure and overlap. It is something that I am considering experimenting with in my work.

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Kelvin Okafor

Kelvin Okafor is a hyperrealist artist who specialises in portraiture. Art Critic, Estelle Lovatt describes his work as 'Emotional Realism'. She mentions how the work of Okafor goes beyond being just 'Photorealist' drawings, and instead coins the term Emotional Realism to describe the affective nature of his artwork.

Okafor is an artist that I discovered on instagram a few years ago and from the moment I saw his work I was captivated. His work is very easy to be mistaken for a photograph due to the photorealistic detail and likeness of the faces he captures. I have always been fascinated by pencils and inspired by my surroundings, faces in particular because everyones face tells a story. I have always had a passion for the technicality of bringing something from life onto a piece of paper so that I can have that moment forever. Why not just take a photo? people ask... Because photos only do so much, a drawing on the other hand makes you feel connected with that moment through the touch of the paper and the time it takes to create it. Okafor's work relates to mine in formal contexts as we both focus on realism, but also in concept. Although a lot of my work has been about exploring my identity, in my current work I am aiming towards using my painting to tell other peoples stories and give a voice to the LGBTQ+ community, everyone has a story and I want to be able to share that, as well as my own story.

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Fabián Cháirez

Fabián Cháirez is a Mexican artist who identifies as a gay man. His work explores cultural, sexual and religious contexts often featuring men wearing wrestling uniform or religious figures. Some of his work, particularly the ones featuring religious characters alongside phallic like objects, have been quite controversial and even hidden in an exhibition in Mexico City for obvious reasons. However, some of the work I think shows a beautiful portrayal of same-sex love, like in the top left painting of 2 wrestlers. I can't help but see the painting as romantic love story. Like the placement of the hands and the faces, the calm look on their faces. Wrestling is also a very hand on sport and in the gay community it is has been fetishised by many.

The work is beautifully painted in a lifelike manner, drawing inspiration from renaissance painters influencing Cháirez's painting style. Similarly to my own work. He uses a bold colour scheme that balances perfectly with the complexion of the characters.

Arghovan Khosraviw

Arghovan Khosravi’s studio practice mobilizes visual art as a vehicle for cultural transformation. She investigate the aesthetics of ancient Persian miniature paintings, which were originally used to illustrate folkloric texts. Typically, the only women they portray have a subservient or secondary role, lacking agency and social significance. Khosravi’s paintings take a conscious look at how the value system transmitted by that iconography continues to shape Iranian gender politics today. The most noticeable visual characteristic of Khosravi’s paintings is their multi-dimensionality. Constructed from a complex scaffolding of cut and painted wooden panels, they offer a constantly shifting perceptual experience. Visual motifs such as black plumes, rockets, and cages reference corrupted economic and political systems, while female bodies are often depicted as being shackled or with their mouths sewn shut.

Farwa Moledina

Farwa Moledina is a British Muslim artist who uses photography and textiles to address issues surrounding feminism, Muslim women and faith. Taking the politically charged imagery of the hijab, she reclaims women from misconceptions, orientalist fantasies and stereotypes; she unveils Islamic identity as far more multifaceted, reflecting on her own upbringing in both the UAE and the west. Like mine, Moledinas work is about her own identity. I love her use of pattern and how she merges the figure into the background. It is very much like Kehinde Wiley’s work but with a more subdued colour scheme. I also think the way she frames the work is very effective in drawing attention to the work as the wall is also a part of the artwork rather than just being plain. Her way of presenting the work could be something to consider in my own work and how I can move away from the traditional wall setting.

Zanele Muholi

Zanele Muholi is a South African artist and visual activist who works with photography, video and installation. Her work is very formally appealing and documents and celebrates the lives of South Africa's Black lesbian, gay, trans, queer and intersex communities as well as celebrating South African culture. Her work gives visibility to the attacked LGBTQ+ population and the social inequalities faced. Muholi's work relates quite directly to mine as my work has shifted to exploring and celebrating my sexual identity. The composition in her photographs is quite striking, using elements of her heritage mixed with more modern forms. It creates some very distinctive shapes and silhouettes that really compliment the monochrome colour palette as it creates a lot of really interesting textures. Photography is something that I really enjoy doing as I like taking my own reference photos for painting but I am always unsure on how to compose the photographs. What clothing to work and what works best so Muholi is a great artist to draw inspiration from.

In 2006 Muholi began an ongoing project titled Faces and Phasesin 2006, which depicts black lesbian and transgender persons. Muholi's objective was to "re-write a black queer and trans visual history of South Africa for the world to know of our struggle and presence during the height of hate crimes in SA and abroad”. Similarly I am aiming to produce work that both celebrates gay culture but also highlights the struggles gay people experience.

Savana Ogburn

Savana Ogburn is an American photographer and collage artist who’s work explores Humour, queerness and pop culture throughout her work. The work features very theatrical portraits of largely queer models. Ogburn said in an interview that she “thinks about performative femininity a lot, and I think that kind of comes through in these, the ideas that we have about gender and the expectations and how you perform that and project it just through, just what you wear on a daily basis, or like me, what I wear on a daily basis, how I act, so that’s been inspiring, to push some of these concepts. But it is primarily process-driven, I think.”. This is something I really relate to, and something I am exploring through my own practice, how I can push these ideas. Mix painting with my love for fashion and how I use that to explore my identity. Ogburn's work is very celebratory of queerness and that can clearly be photographic collages.

A question I always ask myself and have been recently in my work is "Why are we always immediately judged by our gender, sexuality, religion or ethnicity? Why can't we just be judged for being human?" I used to be so scared of my sexuality, because I was different and didn't fit the norm of society. I grew up in a world where being gay was illegal, believing that who I love is wrong and many people on still live in that reality. As a community we have to fight for what is right so that you don't have to be scared of being who you are anymore.

Claude Cahun and Gillian Wearing

Figure 1: 'Me as Cahun holding a mask of my face', 2012

Fig 1 is a photograph by Gillian Wearing based on the iconic photographs by Claude Cahun. It is a self portrait that defies the gender boundaries. Cahun once said "Male? Female? It depends on the situation. The only gender that always suits me is neutral.".In the photograph Cahun holds a mask whilst wearing a mask. “Under this mask, another mask. I will never finish removing all these faces.” - Claude Cahun, 1930. Everything in the photograph in my opinion is very gender neutral. Even the makeup is feminine but masculine at the same time. The striking imagery in this work is something that in terms of formal aspects could really help my composition in my photography as I am wanting to experiment more with this and gender boundaries, men wearing makeup etc. Cahun depicts herself in a way that exudes confidence and the photograph doesn't hold back, it's like it's saying 'I am here, and what?' The theme's of Cahuns work falls in parallel with my own as we both explore themes surrounding identity, gender, sexuality. Cahun's self-portraits must be understood as groundbreaking in their genderqueer staging and aesthetic composition. Some days I feel more feminine, some days I feel more masculine and I display that through what I wear. People like Cahun are the reason LGBT youth can express themselves the way they want to in todays society.

David Hockney

David Hockney is an artist known for having developed a visual language for us to speak about the Californian landscape and domestic spaces. More importantly, Hockney has given us an imagery through which we can begin to understand the white gay male experience in 1970s Los Angeles. Hockney is an openly gay man in a world that has long repressed and silenced individuals who do not comply. His work very cleverly depicts this in his paintings, choosing when it would be appropriate to show it in plain sight or to have subtle gestures such as phalic objects.

The image in the top right shows David Hockney at a pool side and his partner at the time swimming up to him. Hockney has deliberately hidden the face to draw attention to the body which is seen as being the most desirable part of a person. These pool scenes have become very apparent in the 21st century among the gay community. Hockney viewed oppression not as a threat, but as a challenge to shock, subvert, and shake up heteronormative structures.

Homosexuality was illegal in England at the time, so Hockney painted self-portraits. He was gay and painted himself, effectively making gay art while under the radar but for fellow gay people they saw beneath the surface and paintings like this would create a safe space for LGBTQ+ individuals. It was a brilliant move and a huge middle finger to his opposition.

Hockney wanted to celebrate the gay lifestyle and show how different it is from the heterosexual one stating “They want to be ordinary – they want to fit in. Well I don’t care about that. I don’t care about fitting in. Everywhere is so conservative.”. I agree and disagree with this statement as I don't want to be ordinary but I do want to fit in or just be free from judgement.

Hockney's work relates to mine in terms of both formal and conceptual qualities and I think like many of the other artists I have been looking at, he would be a good artist to help me with my composition. Especially as his paintings depict scenes from every day gay life. It could help me with my photography as I am wanting to do a series of photoshoots depicting every day life as a gay man wearing more flamboyant clothing.

Alex Baczynski-Jenkins

Alex Baczynski-Jenkins is a contemporary up and coming artist/photographer and choreographer that traces queer politics of desire, vulnerability, and collectivity. His practice depicts the mediation of queer embodiment and relationality, through choreographies of affect, empathy and intimacy.

Baczynski-Jenkins is from Warsaw Poland which is a very homophobic country and has gotten worse in recent years to point where they have declared LGBTQ+ free zones for heterosexual people. The homophobia people face there is awful and I think that the fact his work focuses on queer themes, gives hope to polish people and their future.

With a lot of the artists I have been looking at the main thing I have been taking from them is the way they compose their photographs or paintings as I think that in my current work that is one of the most important things. The artist has brung the outside inside with the dirt, trees and grass which I think looks very peculiar against the very modern sleek walls. Having said that I do really like the contrast. It isn't considered normal with falls parallel with house gay relationships aren't considered normal.

Salman Toor

Salman Toor is of Pakistani origin and wants to create a world where the east and west harmonise. They are both so often divided but particularly when it comes to their beliefs on sexual orientation.

Toore's previous work focused more on life in South Asia and the difference in class. But since moving to the US for his studies his work has changed direction and seeks to offer an intimate view into the lives of queer, brown men living in the US and South Asia. The paintings depict both comfort and alienation in the same image. People are dancing, singing, kissing and drinking but then there are some characters who seem to be isolated. The colours used a very dark and grungy which reminds me of the gay club scene which is a place that many gay people seek comfort in.

The characters are painted in their own unique way, which their hair and clothing etc, it offers a clear sense of queerness. I think because a lot of gay people grow up closeted so they are often longing for someone to love as they have always been deprived of that so in some of his paintings you see characters that seem out of place, those people to me are the most relatable as they look like they are longing for something but they don't know how.

I think the main thing I am taking from his work, much like my other artists, is the composition of his paintings, depicting scenes from every day life, much like David Hockney's way but with more imaginative brush strokes and grungy colour schemes.

Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo

I wanted to touch on these 2 greats a little bit as they were both known to have had same sex relations and I think that it is important for me as a gay artist to know that some of the most adored artists were possibly gay.

Both Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo has intimate relationships with men and could do so openly due to their influential status at the time. Michelangelo's sculpture 'Victory' was modelled after his lover Cavalier, whom Michelangelo also referred to as his cavalier in his homoerotic poetry. In the sculpture 'Victory' Michelangelo depicted himself between the legs of his model.

Nan Goldin

Nan Goldin is an American photographer and activist. Her work often explores LGBT subcultures, moments of intimacy, the HIV/AIDS crisis, and the opioid epidemic. Her most notable work is The Ballad of Sexual Dependency (1986), a slide show, which documents the post-Stonewall gay subculture and Goldin's family and friends. She is a founding member of the advocacy group P.A.I.N.(Prescription Addiction Intervention Now) which she founded due to her own struggles with addiction that she sought rehab for. Much of her life was influenced by the death/suicide of her sister whom she was close with. Her sister commited suicide due multiple things but Goldin saw the role that her sexuality and its repression played in her destruction. Her early influences included Andy Warhol's early films, Federico Fellini, Jack Smith, French and ItalianVogue, Guy Bourdin and Helmut Newton.

Goldins work was heavily focused around her own experiences and capturing the lives of the gay and transgender communities. Goldin got in with a group of drag queens and her "desire was to show them as a third gender, as another sexual option, a gender option. And to show them with a lot of respect and love, to kind of glorify them because I really admire people who can recreate themselves and manifest their fantasies publicly. I think it's brave". After loosing many of friends due to the HIV/AIDS and opiod pandemic Goldins became involved in a lot of activist work and protests against opioids and in support of the gay community. My reasoning for researching Goldin is because I am very admirable of her story and the way she sought to capture the lives of the queer community and how genuine her photographs were. In my own photography I want to practice with capturing photos that feel more like they are just from everyday life rather than being incredibly staged. To get that feeling of life in an image.

Musicians

Musicians have played a pivotal roll in society for years and that is no different in gay culture. Music is something that everyone listens to and everyone can find something that they can relate to. It can be quite powerful and it gives a voice to those who don't have the power to speak up, like a form of activism. Some examples of gay icons in the music industry can be seen below: Lady Gaga for years has questioned the constructs of gender and what it means to be feminine. Frequently acknowledging the role her gay fans have played in her success, and dedicated the ‘Alejandro’ music video to the community. In 2011 she also created the Born This Way Foundation to help erase bullying of the LGBTQ+ youth. Every lyric in the song Born This Way is so cleverly written and inspirational to me. If I were to quote it it would be the whole song because I can't choose a single line that doesn't have meaning to me.

The infamous 2010 ‘meat dress’ was actually a vessel to express anger at the US military’s anti-LGBTQ+ policy. I also had the pleasure of seeing her live in concert on the 29th July 2022 which was one of the best experiences of my life.

Pabllo Vittar is a groundbreaking Brazilian musician and the first grammy nominated drag queen who was the first Drag Queen to perform at Coachella, a popular music festival in the US, providing a platform for queer artists collaborating with big artist such as Anitta and Charli XCX. Vittar revealed that he chose a masculine stage name because he wanted to be truthful to the public, since he is not transgender. He only acts as a woman when he’s on stage as Pabllo Vittar and has a more typical masculine gender expression in his private life. Charli XCX is a musician that is constantly bringing Joy to the LGBTQ+ community. She has worked alongside many queer artists such as Troye Sivan to create the Go West Fest queer festival, and transgender icon Kim Petras. She is adored by much of the gay community for many reasons. Troye Sivan is a gay award winning musician. His music videos frequently feature LGBTQ+ characters "Without losing a piece of me, how do I get to Heaven?" and "If I'm losing a piece of me, maybe I don't want Heaven" - This is something that I can personally relate to as it has always been preached to me that you will go to heaven as long as you don't sin, but being gay for many years has been viewed as a sin and still is in many parts of the world. Kim Petras is an award winning artist who is unapologetically herself. She is the first transgender artist to top the billboard hot 100 and is paving the way for a lot of LGBTQ+ youth in today's society, particularly transgender people who face so much transphobia in today's society. Rina Sawayama is a Japanese-British artists who identifies as bisexual and pansexual. She has been a staunch supporter of the LGBTQ+ community, tackling biphobia. Recently she has signed an open letter to the UK Equalities minister to ban all forms of LGBTQ+ conversion therapy which still hasn't been banned due to UK government postponing it. In her recent album I really felt some of her lyrics particularly in the songs 'Holy (Til you let me go)' and 'Send My Love To John'. In 'Holy (Til you let me go)', she sings 'Found my peace when I lost my religion, All these years I wished I was different' which is about her feeling out of place in a religious home and society that is so heteronormative. In 'Send My Love To John' she sings : 'All I ever wanted was for you to have a better chance Go to college, find a good girl that you take to a dance Ooh, pictured you with her Ooh, but that was never who you were, hmm' 'And I'm sorry for the things I've done I misguided love to my only son Trying to protect you, but I guess I was wrong So send my love, send my love to John' I really felt these lyrics and actually felt quite emotional as she sings about something many gay people face. The song is about her Gay friend and how his mother never accepted him for being Gay due to her religion and beliefs leading to him leaving home to find happiness. The lyrics 'So send my love, send my love to John' is when after years of neglect his mother realised that her son was happy so she said 'So send my love, send my love to John'. I think this is an important lesson for many parents who have children that are Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual etc as if they are not careful, they will push them away. And for this I have so much respect for Sawayama and her support for the community. Freddie Mercury “It’s hard to imagine that an icon so loved by millions across the world could have had such a difficult time coming to terms with his own identity. Understandable, however, as Freddie Mercury was raised by strict, homophobic parents, and part of their intolerance persisted in him for many years. While he never officially came out to his family or the public, his flamboyant performances and defiance of the gender binary helped thousands of young LGBTQ+ people to survive the severity of homophobia and transphobia during the AIDS epidemic. After his death, the Mercury Phoenix Trust was founded to honour his legacy, which has supported over 700 projects and donated over 15 million dollars in support of AIDS organisations. - Cristina Maino Elton John is an important figure in the gay community. Despite the 80's being a difficult time to be gay, he always accepted who he was. He embraced it and let it explode through his stage presence and aesthetic. Elton John made sure to send a message to people who were cast out like him. He reassured people who were not fitting in that they would eventually find their place. He has became a major voice in the LGBTQ+ community in fighting for gay rights and gay marriage, with his own wedding being one of the first. Other notable musicians who are loved by the gay community for their work is the likes of Madonna, Barbra Streisand, Olly Alexander (Years & Years), Judy Garland, and Cher.

https://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/music/2015/08/03/60-homoerotic-album-covers#media-gallery-media-14 - This website has 60 homoerotic album covers that were worth me looking at