Photos by Hatt Merlino, Miguel Angel Reyes and Robert Green
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Tag Archives: Gio Black Peter
Bird Song (Detail), 2019, Oil and acrylic on canvas, 66″x 50″
2019 Tom of Finland Foundation Artist-in-Residence
New Works and Works for Sale
Everything I want to say to you is in my work. x Gio Black Peter, 2019
In every generation, there are those who resist the sweeping tide of proscription and conformity. For New York based artist Gio Black Peter, such a reaction comes naturally. Through his work, he is able to break through the hardening shell of uniformity and tap into something more honest. While undeniably modern in his approach—often utilizing technology to offer a multimedia-fueled commentary on current issues—the artistic results are irrevocably rooted to the past.
In his bold use of color and shape, Peter’s work is perhaps most reminiscent of the French post-impressionists. Sensual and emotive, he has a Paul Gauguin style primitiveness to his art, where the everyday and the natural are fused with an almost dreamlike sense of the fantastic. Picking up from where Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat left off in the 1980s, Peter is steering the downtown New York art scene back to the unapologetic celebration of life-outside-the-mainstream that it was before complacency began to take hold.
At its core, Peter’s art is a provocation and, whether addressing issues of violence or oppression, alienation or love, it seeks to spark a reaction in its audience. While that reaction may be visceral and dejected, or ecstatic and inspired, the ultimate aim is to fuel awareness, both of the self and society. In that, Peter’s art is a mirror of his own life—the two are, at times, indistinguishable.
Like Jean Genet, there is a bit of an outlaw in Peter, a bit of a fighter—he doesn’t back away from the demands of his artistic expression. Equally willing to strip down on camera for a blood soaked orgy as he is to work through sleepless nights when in the grip of inspiration, Peter breathes a life unfettered by shame, unencumbered by fleeting notions of morality. His work is a testament to the belief that it is possible to celebrate life without being bound to the form most common. He reveals the truth that unexpected beauty and unanticipated vitality can be found by challenging the norm, by pushing past our collective comfort.
4-8p
PRICE LIST
Bring a picnic, we’ll have drinks, and stay for the screenings.
The exhibition focuses on the interconnection between art, sex, and science, and presents a group of emerging, established, and influential Queer artists working with the male form across multiple disciplines, including photography, sculpture, painting, moving image, and collage:
(in alphabetical order)
Mark Beard
Adam Chuck
Gabe Cortese
Rubén Esparza
Gio Black Peter
Simon Haas
Brandon Herman
Florian Hetz
David Hockney
Terence Koh
Matt Lambert
Tom of Finland
Jwan Yosef
“Coming together with Evan Goldstein, Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, was a natural fit as his focus at Bespoke Surgical is not only the intersection of sex and science, but also treating the ass as a work of art.” –Stuart Sandford, Curator
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- FLORIAN HETZ, Untitled (Elbows), 2017, Giclée print
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- RUBÉN ESPARZA, “Work That Body Pink Pony”, 2019, Mixed media collage
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- MATT LAMBERT, “Foot Fuck Face” (Detail), 2019, Black and white photograph
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- ADAM CHUCK, “Resting or Waiting”, 2018, Oil paint on reflective Mylar mounted to BFK
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- SIMON HAAS, “Self-Portrait with Duct Tape 1”, 2019, Graphite on paper
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- GABE CORTESE, “Beach Film” (Detail), 2019, Acrylic on panel
All images © the artist(s)
The opening reception coincides with the birthday of Tom of Finland (born Touko Laaksonen, Finnish, 1920-1991), whose libidinal foresight impacted Gay culture around the world and transcended pornography to become fine art.
6-9p RSVP
FACEBOOK EVENT
The Exhibition Will Benefit
A Nonprofit 501(c)(3) Educational Archive
ONLINE AUCTION