28 Self-Portraits Show the Beauty of Queer Creativity
At the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, as the rights and lives of LGBTQ+ people continue to be threatened worldwide, the visibility of queer folks -- bodies, faces -- has never been more critical. It's with this notion that HERE, a New York organization dedicated to presenting cutting edge artworks in a variety of media, staged its Queer As I exhibition.
On view through June 30, Queer As I is comprised of 50 self-portraits by different artists both established, like photographers Catherine Opie and Jack Pierson, and emerging. From crystal-clear photography to abstracted compositions -- the portraiture, an image for each year since the Stonewall Riots, reflects a gloriously diverse range of creativity. "We're not going back in the closet," says resident curator Dan Halm. "It was a real honor to get people like Catherine Opie and Justin Vivian Bond to commit to this show right off the bat. It's a really nice statement when people who have had careers for a really long time are willing to do an exhibition with somebody who is just graduating from Columbia."
Queer as I, you, and all of us: Scroll on to peruse a selection of the artists' self-portraits, highlighting the breadth and beauty of the queer community.
Jonathan Kent Adams
A Place For Me, 2019, oil on Arches oil paper
Alexander Asbell
Behold the Man, 2019, oil on canvas board
Matthew Bede Murphy
Pee Soup Me, 2019, oil on canvas
Justin Vivian Bond
Chip '84, 1984, pencil on paper
Greg Climer
Self-Portrait, 2019, quilted cotton with batting
LaQuann Dawson
Portrait 02 from the series I hate getting my picture taken, 2018, digital photograph
Leah DeVun
Beloved Mother, 2016, archival pigment print
Shari Diamond
Untitled (Self-Portrait 07.08.18), 2018, pigmented inkjet print
John Dugdale
Tempo Passa, Morton Street NYC, 2018, cyanotype
James Falciano
Self-Portrait, 2018, marker on paper
Nadine Faraj
That Ground of Conscious Nothing Where The Rose Ever Blooms, 2018, watercolor on paper
Logan Jackson
Flamer, 2017, archival pigment print
Mia Krys
For Interpretation, 2018, gelatin silver print
Zachari Logan
Still Life No. 1 from the Enigma series, 2015, blue pencil on Mylar
Emily Lombardo
Disappeared, 2018, dry point etching with inkjet chine colle on paper
Peter Macaulay
Self-Portrait with Beer, 2018, oil on canvas
John MacConnell
Self-Portrait, 2019, graphite on Rives BFK
Daniel Morowitz
Self-Portrait, Gemini, 2019, acrylic on canvas
Cobi Moules
Untitled (08-24-2015), 2016, oil on canvas
Catherine Opie
Julie & Pigpen, 2012, pigment print
Ryan Pfluger
I Left My Heart in the Mountains, 2018, c-print
Michael-Birch Pierce
Transient, 2019, Swarovski rhinestones and chandelier crystals on antique mirror
Jack Pierson
Me at Polycow, 1981, silver gelatin print
Antonio Pulgarin
Mother and I, 2013, archival pigment print
Brandon Roberts
Self-Portrait (Vazquez Rocks Natural Area Park, CA, 2019), archival pigment print
Chad States
Making the Weather, 2019, video (loop) 10:35
Richard Stauffacher
Poseidon's Boy, 2019, porcelain, glass, found doll parts, wood and waxed twine
Meg Turner
Self-Portrait (after Marlon Brando), 2016, wet plate collodion
