Proud exhibition catalog

PROUD Celebrating the Art of LGBTQ Artists

June 2 - 25, 2017 EXHIBITION CATALOG

The Studio Door 3750 30th Street San Diego, CA 92104-3632 www.TheStudioDoor.com Cover Artwork: Proud Parade by Patrick Brown (Encinitas, CA) Back Cover Artwork: As He Is by Shaun Martins (Cranston, RI) Copyright Š 2017 Final Exhibition Version. The Studio Door, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

The Studio Door, Inc. respects the rights of all artist and copyright holders. Consequently, all works that appear on this exhibition do so with the consent of the artist/s or the copyright holder. No image or information displayed in this catalog may be reproduced, transmitted or copied without the permission of the The Studio Door, Inc., artist or copyright holder.

All prices shown are subject to change without notice by The Studio Door, Inc., artists or copyright holder. Prices do not include any sales tax, use, value added goods, customs, duties, tariffs or service charges.

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PROUD

Celebrating the Art of LGBTQ Artists June 2 - 25, 2017 EXHIBITION CATALOG

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PROUD at PRIDE

PROUD at Pride - Regional Exhibition produced by Art of Pride San Diego LGBTQ Pride Office 3620 30th Street, North Park - San Diego, CA 92104 Artist Receptions: Saturday, May 13, 2017 - 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM In memory of Dick Greene, Founder of AIDS Art Alive Saturday, June 3, 2017 - 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM The Art of Pride artofpride.weebly.com

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Open during regular business hours

PROUD

National Exhibition produced by THE STUDIO DOOR Juror: Alex Fialho • Visual AIDS Programs Director / Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Research and Curatorial Associate • New York City, NY The Studio Door 3750 30th Street, North Park - San Diego, CA 92104 Opening Reception: Saturday, June 3, 2017 - 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Gallery Hours: Closed Mon Noon - 7 PM Tues - Sat Noon - 4 PM Sun

The Studio Door TheStudioDoor.com

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VISUAL AIDS Visual AIDS is the only contemporary arts organization fully committed to HIV prevention and AIDS awareness through producing and presenting visual art projects, while assisting artists living with HIV/AIDS. We are committed to preserving and honoring the work of artists with HIV/AIDS and the artistic contributions of the AIDS movement, because AIDS is not over. visualAIDS.org

ART OF PRIDE Organized by local LGBT artists and their friends in 2005, Art of Pride has been coordinating the exhibition of art at the city’s annual Pride Festival in Balboa Park in July. artofpride.weebly.com

SAN DIEGO PRIDE Location for sister exhibition, PROUD AT PRIDE. Produced San Diego’s first Pride Parade in 1994 with the mission to foster pride in and respect for all LGBT people locally, nationally, and globally. sdpride.org

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PROUD Juror:

Alex Fialho

Visual AIDS Programs Director / Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Research and Curatorial Associate • New York City, NY Alex Fialho, as Programs Director at Visual AIDS, has facilitated projects and conversations around both the history and immediacy of the HIV/ AIDS epidemic, utilizing art to maintain HIV/AIDS visibility, consider its legacy, and galvanize contemporary response. Fialho’s extensive oral history interviews will be part of the Smithsonian Archives of American Art’s forthcoming “Visual Arts and the AIDS Epidemic Oral History Project.” Alex’s interviews include with Gregg Bordowitz, Ron Athey, Carrie Yamaoka, Marguerite Van Cook, Ron Athey, Nayland Blake, Gregg Bordowitz, Douglas Crimp, Lia Gangitano, Nan Goldin, Lyle Ashton Harris, Bill Jacobson, Jack Pierson, Patrick Moore, Marguerite Van Cook and Carrie Yamaoka. He has presented his research on the art of Glenn Ligon and Keith Haring at the College Art Association and NYU Fales Library. Fialho has co- curated three exhibitions for Lower Manhattan Cultural Council as Research and Curatorial Associate: “Trisha Brown: Embodied Practice & Site-Specificity”; “(Counter)Public Art, Intervention & Performance in Lower Manhattan 1978–1993”; and “Michael Richards: Winged.” He is also a frequent contributor to Artforum.

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THE STUDIO DOOR PROUD 2017 BRANDIN BARÓN ...and sought slumber in a bower of leaves Linocut with Gouache and Enamel 8.5” x 11” $ 300 San Francisco, CA

In each submission, portraits of contemporary personalities have been reimagined into historicized, fictive spaces to create new dialogues about both our time, and that of the alternative environment.

My compositions are “staged” through the process of layering my photographic and hand-rendered imagery with digital textures. I utilize experimental printmaking techniques, especially in the play between different surface qualities of ink/paint/pigment. After the works are printed and or assembled, I apply a final layer of acrylic, gouache, oil wash and metallic ink through hand illustration or painting, ensuring that each individual print (each individual image has a limited run of 3 prints) is differentiated from the others in the limited series.

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THE STUDIO DOOR PROUD 2017 GERALD BARNES Fitzwilton Tall Man Series Mixed Media Collage 40” x 30” $ 600 Fair Oaks, CA

I was born in Ireland and I love to travel. Last year, I was in many wonderful countries from Laos to Iran to Central America and all these places will eventually surface in my art one way or another! I continue to work in collage and mixed media and I am transitioning to larger pieces in my Tall Men series.

I combine created and found images together and blend and add to them using paint, pencil, pastels and transfers.

Sometimes I have one dominant image or idea and match other images with it. One layer is built upon another. The Tall Men series is really a parody on the extravagant dress (especially military dress) of the “upper classes” in the 18th and 19th centuries. Again, reflecting my own interest in the visual arts from a historical perspective.

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THE STUDIO DOOR PROUD 2017 THEO BIGNON Stained Underwear Series Soaked Found Men’s Underwear, Urine-dyed Cotton Thread ••• Golden Shower Found Men’s Underwear, Urine, Beads, Metal Chains ••• Fagoted Found Mens Underwear, Cotton Thread 16” x 18” x 3.5” $ 800 each Richmond, VA 11

My work relates to the title of this show because it explores the objects, images and material cultures that have formed my queer desire, sexuality, and identity, and how textiles have played an intrinsic part in these formations. Accumulation, excessive embellishment and piecework are strategies in my practice that turn shame into celebration and pride, giving these private and intimate desires an exaggerated visibility and therefore asking the audience to reconsider the very notion of deviance.

Like many queer individuals, I had to rework my own narrative into the dominant material culture designed with a straight audience in mind. I transform the “straight and hygienic” man of the 1950s with a fagoted (a handmade piecework technique) Hanes underwear. Combining mass-produced objects with marks of bodily fluids and exquisite handcrafting techniques, I queer these objects into carefully embellished specimens that document my existence as a queer person and artist.

20” x 30” Digital Prints • Edition of 11 also available: $375 framed and $325 unframed - available at: www.vasiliospapapitsios.com/viralprints

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THE STUDIO DOOR PROUD 2017

PATRICK BROWN Proud Parade Oil 20” x 20” $ 1,200 Encondido, CA

The paintings submitted for PROUD were all produced in 2017 specifically with pride related subject matter. They are both serious and playful.

Proud Parade is whimsical with its cast of characters in the background and the representation of androgynous youth and innocence of today front and center.

The painting titled POZ Men’s March is a documentation of the struggle for recognition in the fight against HIV/AIDS and would probably have taken place around 1989.

The painting Sylvester, Nina Simone and George and Barbara Bush walk into a bar, is another humorous take on diversity with the dogs of war lurking subliminally as a reminder that we are not all accepted as one. I chose Nina for being one of the most radical crazy bitches ever and Sylvester for being the original soundtrack of gay liberation before dieing of AIDS. They both still live in the soundtrack of my life and work.

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THE STUDIO DOOR PROUD 2017

PATRICK BROWN Poz Men’s March Oil 20” x 20” $ 1,200 Encondido, CA 15

PATRICK BROWN Sylvester, Nina, George and Barbara Bush Walk into a Bar Oil 20” x 20” $ 1,200 Encondido, CA

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THE STUDIO DOOR PROUD 2017 JESSICA CARDER Prep .01 ••• Evan as Evan .01 ••• Evan as Cloe .03 Photography 20” x 16” $ 250 each North Little Rock, AR I am a photographer and Mixed Media artist based in Little Rock, AR. I was raised in a conservative family and I attended a private Christian school. I am fascinated with the mind, with dreams and the world of fantasy. I create imagery that serves as a sort of mirror to that world, an idea of what it would look like if we could see it, if it were something tangible. My art tends to be a reflection of my inner world; sometimes it is a subtle hint at an underlying issue, sometimes it is a blatant and expletive display of what people are to me: powerful in their vulnerabilities, with strengths beyond comprehension. Sometimes I combine beautiful images with darker details. I feel this most describes humanity; the beautiful things we pay to see, the ugliness we pay to hide, and the truth that we hate to accept – within each of us is dark and light, ugly and beautiful, hate and love, peace and war.

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THE STUDIO DOOR PROUD 2017 BRETT DYER 49 Holes in Our Souls Acrylic 30� x 15� $ 800 Lewisville, TX

As I create, I turn my hands over to my heart and mind. I do this because it is what my body and mind compel me to do. I believe that if you do not bring out what is inside of you, what is inside of you will eventually destroy you. Instead of thinking before I create, I think as I create and resolve formal problems as I work through a piece. Painting gives me the freedom to put my emotions and actions into my work. This places me present within the work. If you do not present yourself to the world, you deny the world of yourself. Your thoughts and responses of the times might just be what others need to see.

Experiences in life are my work. I reflect daily confrontations. I hope that my creations communicate a more universal, yet individual sense of empathy and bigger picture sense of what is life; life for all of us. My life and work are one. They would not exist without each other.

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THE STUDIO DOOR PROUD 2017 SANTIAGO ECHEVERRY Cabaret Cigar Night 04

Cabaret Mitzi Ross

Digital Print 30” x 30” $ 1.000

Digital Print 30” x 30” $ 1,000

Tampa, FL

I grew up in Bogotá, Colombia, a city where the mafia was blowing up buildings, and murdering people with drugs and bombs; AIDS was killing my friends, and death squads were threatening my life for being openly gay. Instead of seeking cover, I became a very visible New Media artist promoting change in my surroundings through video art, documentaries, performances and political activism. In my current work, The Cabaret, I am committed to capturing the memories, lives, motion, experiences, and appearance of the LGBT community of Fort Lauderdale and Wilton Manors, Florida. Using 3D space capturing sensors, I am creating large format prints, videos and real-time installations portraying unsung heroes of my adopted cities, where I explore their uniqueness and charisma, in a political era that reminds us of the Weimar Republic’s final years in Germany.

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THE STUDIO DOOR PROUD 2017 TIM RAY FISHER Out of the Closet 10 pieces

Decoupage, Gay Porn ~ 44� X 23� X 15 $ 500 San Diego, CA

I am proud to be a gay male artist and I am alright with who I am today. Growing up in a small town in Indiana, it was instilled in me that it was not acceptable to be a homosexual.

As I get older now, I care less about what people or society thinks of me, or the art I create. I no longer have to be secretive in the art I make or feel ashamed of my lifestyle due to our conservative American values that society places on others.

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THE STUDIO DOOR PROUD 2017 EUGENE HUFFMAN Guédé Loa Acrylic and Metallic 48” x 24” $ 1,100 Pasadena, CA

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Eugene Huffman (aka liebeKunst) is an established Los Angeles based artist whose painting style has been described as “abstract expressionism with non-repeating patterns that reference life through a lens of survival, using his artwork as an outlet for his brave and powerful openness of his out status of an HIV-Positive artist.” Dealing with the expression of personal psyche, hidden images often reveal themselves in his pieces.

As an Out HIV-Positive gay man, Eugene’s appearances and gallery shows often include benefits for various LGBT and HIV/AIDS organizations. He was recently named as one of HIV Plus Magazine’s “Most Amazing HIV-Positive People of 2016.”

Eugene’s recent works explore the Japanese philosophy of Kintsugi - relating to the journey and expression of the self, the metallic adds value, illuminating the broken parts of ourselves and embracing it as part of a history to be valued.

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THE STUDIO DOOR PROUD 2017 MATT HUFFORD Portraits of Humanity 3 portraits from a series of 9 works

Jae: He/ Him ••• Matt: He/ Him or They/ Them ••• Sam: They/ Them

Oil 18” x 15” NFS Sacramento, CA

I hit refresh and it’s happened again, another death. Articles flood my screen as the media grieves the loss of a person they misgender. Refresh, and the news is forgotten like last week’s gossip.

Obscured by statistics and sensationalized headlines, and our smiles are eclipsed by fear, hatred, and stigma. These warped perceptions rob us of our names, our bodies, our lives, and our humanity. I’ve had enough. Our smiles are forgotten, so I’m immortalizing them on canvas. Society tries to mask our shine, so I’m sculpting us with a thousand different colors. And because they don’t see that we’re human, I’m painting portraits of our humanity.

As a transgender painter, I work to speak beyond the struggles of identity, to paint portraits of trans and non-binary individuals to remind the world and ourselves that we are beautiful, we are human, and we deserve space and equality.

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THE STUDIO DOOR PROUD 2017 DREW JUSTICE They Woodcut Print 22” x 22” $ 450 Knoxville, TN

My recent work looks directly at headlines of the past and an established correlation between the bold and enticing language used to achieve fear and stimulation. I mine these headings to find phrasings and rhetoric that can be implemented to comment on current socio-political events.

The “horror-language” used in the past to reference sightings of “monsters” has been often revived when discussing race, ethnicity and sexuality—the “they’s” of society. The mania that often finds a presence in these situations partners conceptually with use of the multiple, referencing handbill, pamphlet, street art, and poster.

From these themes of “belief” and “fact,” narratives frequently cross from folk tale and personal experience into pop culture, gaining a following and timelessness which I find intriguing. My work seeks to explore the ways this can be reflective of humankind’s desires to suspend rationale and to comment on the human tendencies to engage in unconscious bias.

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THE STUDIO DOOR PROUD 2017 JENNIFER KENNEDY Untitled Welded Steel 28” x 32” x 42” $ 3,400 Woodland Hills, CA Through my art I aspire to show a slice of time, a moment in which an emotional expression is held and a recognition is made. When we allow ourselves to be witnessed by another, we cannot help but be transformed by the experience.

Whether we are sharing a personal experience, standing in front of friends to celebrate a special occasion, or expressing our unbridled joy or sorrow in front of a loved one, we are allowing ourselves to be seen and experienced in a very intimate way. Not only are we baring ourselves to someone else, but we are allowing that person to hold a very specific kind of space with us so this powerful act can take place. To be witnessed is to let ourselves be seen as we truly are in that moment.

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THE STUDIO DOOR PROUD 2017 WATER KERNER Unchained & Unfurled Mixed Media 22” x 28” x 7” $ 3,500 Glendale, CA

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As a young artist growing up in New York, I was surrounded by acres of lush woods. Our mailbox was marked RFD #2 for “Rural Free Delivery”. When I left home at 18, I had no idea I would only live in huge cities surrounded by glass & concrete walls reverberating man-made noises. Throughout my successful artistic career, I find it absolutely captivating my body and soul are still magnetized by the beautiful outdoors. Nature will always be the origin of my awe and my greatest mentor of originality. I believe the more virtual our lives become, the more we crave the beauty & excitement of creative physical experiences which engage our senses and connect us to ourselves, our feelings and others.

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THE STUDIO DOOR PROUD 2017 JOHN KRENIK Upside Down Therapy Watercolor Bath 37� x 27� $ 2,800 Plymouth, MA I try to create interesting figures emphasizing the gay character of the person that catches my eye as I recognize the effect they would have interacting with watercolor bath. Watercolor bath is a technique I created of tearing fibers asian paper. bathing it in a watercolor puddle, pulling it out and glueing it back together.

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THE STUDIO DOOR PROUD 2017 Sam Lasris Prop 8 The Transcript Part 3 Ruth Bader Ginsberg Mixed Media Collage 21” x 17” $ 800 Cedar Grove, NC

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THE STUDIO DOOR PROUD 2017 Sam Lasris Prop 8 The Transcript Part 1 Paper and Plastics Collage 27” x 21.5” $ 500

Prop 8 The Transcript Part 5 Scalia & Alito Paper Collage 40” x 28” $ 1,000

Cedar Grove, NC

I am creating a series of work transcribing word for word the transcript of the Supreme Court hearing on Proposition 8. The process is deliberately tedious to pay homage to the hard work and dedication that was made to bring this case to court and to ultimately succeed in overturning this law. The initial works focus on the court members both supporters and opponents. While I’ve placed a price on the work, any sales would be donated in full to an advocacy center for LGBTI rights of the buyer’s choosing.

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THE STUDIO DOOR PROUD 2017 Cyriaco Lopes Saints & Martyrs (85)

1 - queer saints and martyrs in ecstatic moments of doom and apotheosis.

Photography 15” x 15” NSF

2 – hybrids: painterly photographs of sculptures - queer in content and form.

New York, NY

3 – re-signifcation of an array of art historical references into a queer genealogy by mixing past religious visual traditions that sublimated the body or where the erotic body was smuggled into visual experience through the depiction of abuse and ecstasy.

4 - from a matrix inspired by the brazilian 18th century baroque (aleijadinho, athaide) to the gay concretism of hélio oiticica, to an international set of influences that include mexica sculpture and masks, greek sculpture (severe style), italian baroque painting (guercino), indian miniature (mughal), u.s. underground film (jack smith, anger), to vernacular images from porn, gay softcore, Hollywood magazines.

5 – in a time of political regression (the impeachment of president dilma, the U.S. elections) a point of view that despite its melancholy affirms itself uncompromisingly.

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THE STUDIO DOOR PROUD 2017

Shaun Martins As He Is Limited Edition

Photography 11” x 11” $ 300 Cranston, RI

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With my photography, I delve into my ordinary surroundings and pursue extraordinary subjects that commonly go unnoticed in their original context. My creative process is deeply meditative and my style often in flux which offers me the excitement of adventure and self-discovery. My objective is to introduce pieces that for me, eliminate the illusion of time and induce a state of presence, gratitude, and oneness. In essence, my art explores the dynamic link between my own consciousness and the world I am looking deeper into.

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THE STUDIO DOOR PROUD 2017

MAC MCCUSKER Top Surgery:

60 Days Post Op A Transgender Self Portrait

Clay 19” x 17” x 12” $ 2,500 ••• The 49: Remembering Pulse

Clay 60” x 60” x 3” $ 2,500 Asheville, NC 43

I am a transgender artist in Asheville, NC making work about my own transition, artwork about discriminatory laws against lesbians and gay people, and other social issues affecting our lives as part of the LGBTQ community.

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THE STUDIO DOOR PROUD 2017 HUGO MORO Peter & Paul Violations Series Mixed Media on C-Print [negative selected from Carl Walden archives]

32� x 32� $ 1,400 Seattle, WA

My work is the product of a recursive and tangential thinking process influenced by elements of genre, outside content, medium, and more.

The work exists in a multitude of forms and is transmitted across multiple media.

Through the examination of the meaning of the materials used, I encourage the viewer to utilize these symbols to explore the complicated nature of storytelling.

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THE STUDIO DOOR PROUD 2017 KATHRYN NOSKA Buoyed by Desire Walnut Oil on Panel 8” x 6” $ 550 Phoenixville, PA My motto, “Take Time to Find the Unseen” is realized through Symbolism, the language of my art. I explore the deeper meanings of things which I bring to light by faithfully representing the seen, exterior of objects while revealing an internal, unseen spirit. Symbolic still life becomes a means for uncovering the veiled layers of reality cultivating conscious awareness of my life path. I use representational symbolism, philosophic whimsy, personification and curious compositions to express metaphoric tales. The mystic still life, portrayed closeup inviting a sense of intimacy and understanding, is contrasted by a deliberate scale difference with the vast distance of a mythic landscape. I love creating highly detailed and finely blended paintings with rich colors using solventfree, cold-pressed walnut oil paint on eco-friendly panels.

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THE STUDIO DOOR PROUD 2017 MARLENE NÚÑEZ Unicorns Kiss

Neonates

Archival Inkjet & Screen Print 10.5” x 12.8” $ 275

Archival Inkjet & Screen Print 10.5” x 12.8” $ 275

Dallas, TX

I’m interested in exploring gender as a social construct, the impact on gender non-conforming individuals, and the erasure and exclusion of these people in our society. This project considers the unfair expectations society places on gender diverse individuals to conform to certain norms.

Further, this body of work allows me to speak on behalf of a marginalized group of people that are not represented as equal members of our society. I’m interested in expanding and educating the viewer on the importance of honoring all gender identities. We all deserve to be recognized as people and therefore treated equally. Simply put, at our center we’re all human.

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THE STUDIO DOOR PROUD 2017

VASILIOS PAPAPITSIOS Going Viral / Viral Illumination Series Poz Dance: I Love AIDS ••• Poz 4 Pleasure ••• Viral Underclass Photography 18” x 30” $ 150 Los Angeles, CA 51

Vasilios Papapitsios is a multidisciplinary artist combining digital media and Super8mm film in their ongoing series called “Going Viral/Viral Illumination.” The stills featured are part of the ritual movement project “Poz Dance” which was shot on Fire Island in 2015. The Pines invoked a sense of nostalgia from the early days of HIV/AIDS but the goal was to create a link with the millennial generation through digital art. Vasilios is dedicated to creating new narratives for a generation entrenched in a history that can’t be easily forgotten. They aspire to make beautiful video art that blends genres, blurs boundaries, and moves fluidly between documentary, activism, performance art, and experimental visual ethnography. The work seen is a visual rendering of the poem “Human Illumination Virus,” which explores the nature of stigma and transmission between bodies, over Wifi, and through psychic waves.

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THE STUDIO DOOR PROUD 2017 DAN PHELPS Atlas of My Body 1 Mixed Media 48� x 72� $ 3,000 Los Angeles, CA

These paintings are about the polar opposite feelings of pride and shame. Ultimately, pride can arrive when shame has been dismissed. The body, with its structure, gestures, marks and scars is a map, or atlas of this journey 53

THE STUDIO DOOR PROUD 2017 MEREDITH POWER PROUD Digital Photography 10” x 8” NFS Overland Park, KS

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THE STUDIO DOOR PROUD 2017 MARK RAUTENBACH Ouma se Kind Queensize 6 Still image from crochet performance video

Archival Digital Print 20cm x 20cm $ 230 Cape Town, South Africa

In my country there is a reference to gay people as ‘Ouma se kind’ (grandmother’s child). I am a gay man and grew up at a time when homosexuality was criminal in South Africa, and culturally taboo. It was also culturally taboo for men to crochet. I was taught by my grandmother to crochet.

I am busy with a ‘coming out” performance project in which I use ‘live’ erect cocks as crochet hooks, to crochet grannysquares. The pieces I am submitting are manipulated stills from the video of the first performance.

The yarn I use is ‘size-tape’, from which labels are cut and sewn into garments to indicate size. This is a sub-theme, narratives of men and the relationship they have to the size of their cocks.

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THE STUDIO DOOR PROUD 2017 DEVON REIFFER A Rose By Any Other Name...

Crosswalks

Charcoal, Gesso & Acrylic on Unstretched Canvas 68” x 36” $ 4,000

Charcoal, Pastel & Gesso on Unstretched Canvas 58” x 42” $ 4,500

Philadelphia, PA Society has been conditioned to label the world in black and white terms however such simplicity is unattainable. Regardless of these labels, we are all human, a shade of gray. My work, a series of charcoal and gesso drawings on canvas, addresses this broad spectrum of gray. Although I focus on gender, identity, and sexual orientation, my art provokes an honest conversation that evokes empathy and serves as a visual reminder of the human condition.

Each person is born with the right to love and be loved for exactly who they are. My work allows the viewer to connect to the individual characteristics of the models and environments prior to the conditioned labels that commonly separate us. Each connection contributes a shift in perspective that creates a step forward to understanding and respecting our differences. It is only with acknowledgment of the vast spectrum of gray that we are able to truly understand color.

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THE STUDIO DOOR PROUD 2017 JP SCHUITEMAN African Wedding Acrylic on Plywood 48” x 36” $ 2,500 ••• Military A-Go-Go Acrylic on Plywood 18” x 24” $ 3,000 San Diego, CA

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THE STUDIO DOOR PROUD 2017 JP SCHUITEMAN Military A-Go-Go Allure 1 Acrylic on Plywood 18” x 24” $ 1,500 San Diego, CA

“Paint what you love.” I love beautiful men! But greater than the homo-erotic is my intention to make a statement, even when it makes others uncomfortable. My focus is that of a truth seeker. I aspire to be provocative, awaken thinking and reveal truth. I present irony or use symbolism because Art should challenge the mind.

My preference for ‘men of color’ is problematic because of history and race relations. Our society marginalizes AfricanAmericans and attempts to emasculate black men. Black men have long been in some ways the most vulnerable segment of our society. I wish to open minds and in that regard, ask that my paintings be taken in context with no intention of disrespect.

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THE STUDIO DOOR PROUD 2017 HUNTER SCOTT On What Arielle Said Oils 78” x 59” NFS

Golden to Grey, Silver to Brown Oils 84” x 32” NFS

Kansas City, MO In On What Arielle Said, I personalize my struggle with identity-politics and ambivalence of pride.

Yearning to find strength in my queer identity while managing the stigma surrounding it, I place myself in a half-hearted act of self-love.

Golden to Grey, Silver to Brown depicts the ostracization I feel as an asexual from both hetero- and homonormative culture, the inadequacy I feel as not being straight nor gay enough to be fully accepted by both respective cultures, and my feelings of ambivalence towards pride. As a self-portrait, the painting evidences my existence in spite of disacknowledgement from both parties, yet beyond the genre, questions of identity are central to the work because, as an asexual, my identity is centrally questioned. Coded references to personal narrative, art historical tropes, and queer theory are synthesized within the narrow composition as form and imagery combine to depict my struggle to balance culturally imposed expectations and personal pretensions.

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THE STUDIO DOOR PROUD 2017 JACQUELINE SECOR Diversity of Nature Series Mixed Media 18” x 18” NFS West Valley City, UT

Best.

Worst.

Perfect.

Gross.

These are words that are too often used to describe female bodies. Women and girls face daily criticisms, not over the quality of their accomplishments or the content of their hearts, but of the bodies they were born in. Judgement comes in many forms and from many directions, but worst of all, women criticize themselves and their own bodies. This series creates a space free from comparisons, where each body is honored in all of its individuality. Choosing to portray vulvae as parts of nature is not about trying to make them “prettier” but about showing vulvae as they are: integral elements of the natural world we are a part of. The beauty, the strength, the very survival of nature depends on diversity. So too with humans.

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THE STUDIO DOOR PROUD 2017 PATRIC STILLMAN Cut Sleeve V Acrylic/ Acrylic Encaustic 12” x 36” $ 650 San Diego, CA

The Passion of The Cut Sleeve • 4 B.C. • It is said that the Emperor Ai-ti of the Han Dynasty was resting in the company of his male favorite Tung Hsien. When called to royal matters, the emperor woke to find his robe’s sleeves caught underneath his sleeping lover. Rather than disturb him, he cut off his sleeve. The story continued on to state that during his short reign Ai-ti expressed great affection for Tung Hsien who would eventually become Commander of the Armed Forces, which was the most powerful official position in Aiti’s administration.

To this day, the term “tuan-hsui” [translated in English as “cut sleeve”] is still used as a Chinese euphemism for homosexuality.

For a small-town boy in the late 70s struggling to understand his passions, I found myself looking for answers. When I came across a brief reference to this historic love story, I was bowled over with the thought of a love between men that was so great that a shared private moment could travel 2,000 years with its relevance intact. From that moment on, I realized I was not alone and I deserved my place at the table. I found the foundation of my pride.

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THE STUDIO DOOR PROUD 2017 RAMONA SZCZERBA Dapper Fairy Handcut Collage 7” x 5” $ 140 San Diego, CA

My collage art centers around creating what I call curious vintage fictions: detail dense images of things that never happened to people who never were in places that do not exist but perhaps should have. I favor legendary women, dark fairies, arcane subject matter and unlikely inventors.

Oftentimes, fiction vignettes come to me as I am working, usually beginning with the subject’s name and evolving from there. Sometimes the story influences the artwork and takes it in its own direction. Recent work has been exploring the concept of home and its relationship to the environment and as well as interplays of inside/outside.

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THE STUDIO DOOR PROUD 2017 STEFAN TALIAN One Love Acrylic 40” x 40” $ 2,500 ••• Sneak Peak Mixed Media 30” x 48” $ 2,500 San Diego. CA

My favorite thing to paint is the emotions of ordinary people that we all share and grow from. It’s an amazing feeling to share something I created with a lot of passion and love with others.

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THE STUDIO DOOR PROUD 2017 MICHAEL TKACH Eclipse Archival Pigment Print 28” x 20” $ 400 ••• Living Doll Archival Pigment Print 26.25” x 26.25” $ 350 Erie, PA

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I am interested in presenting the innuendo, the hidden and implied. Subject matter has been quite varied but currently often addresses some aspect of culture and gender. I enjoy working with myth, metaphor, and irony to explore the psychological, emotional, and intellectual interplay between the known and unknown that drives a narrative.

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THE STUDIO DOOR PROUD 2017 JOHN WAIBLINGER Holding Your Flower 3/15

Digital Art 20” x 15” $ 500 Los Angeles, CA

My art celebrates “PRIDE” by exploring and beautifying tender, loving relationships between men.

I focus on such embrace within a setting of natural beauty. My art re-appropriates images from gay pornography and re-envisions the performers in a way that emphasizes their humanity and romanticizes their interaction in a transcendent way.

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ART OF PRIDE PROUD AT PRIDE 2017

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Exhibition at SAN DIEGO PRIDE offices Curated by ART OF PRIDE May - June 2017

RD RICCOBONI

Celebrating Equality The Equality March of Joy Hillcrest, San Diego, 2013

33” x 32” NFS

I attended the rally and celebration of the overturning of Proposition 8 in California. I knew it would be a momentous occasion that I must capture on canvas.

Besides the dominant equal sign, this painting is full of symbolic and real events. The clouds in the sky represents the community being spiritually embraced. The figures on the roofs symbolize angels watching over us. If you look closely, you will see their wings. Even signs like Union, One Way and No U-Turn are meant to be indicative of the celebration.

I have put myself in this painting as well, if only the back of my head, as I march and observe the crowd. You’ll find me wearing rainbow wings that represent my painter’s palette

RD RICCOBONI Love Wins Signed, Limited Edition 17” x 13” $ 1,200 ••• Marriage Equality Mixed Media on Canvas 24” x 32” NFS San Diego

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ART OF PRIDE PROUD AT PRIDE 2017

JOHN CARLOS KEASLER

79

ARIS TJHIN

American Flag Acrylic on Wood Panel 34” x 24” x 6” $ 300

Endure Ink & Acrylic on Paper 7” x 11” $ 150 Framed

Salvation Ink & Acrylic on Paper 8” x 11” $ 150 Framed

San Diego

San Diego

San Diego

ART OF PRIDE PROUD AT PRIDE 2017

BARRY LA FOLLETTE Old Friends Oil on Canvas 24” x 24” $ 500

A Chair is still a Chair Oil on Panel 36” x 24” $ 500

Study in Steel Oil on Canvas 18” x 18” $ 300

San Diego

San Diego

San Diego 80

ART OF PRIDE PROUD AT PRIDE 2017

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PATRICK MCMAHON Hidden No More Archival Photographic Print 20” x 16” ••• Serene Sleep Archival Photographic Print 20” x 16” ••• Barcelona Pride Archival Photographic Print 20” x 16 San Diego

Patrick McMahon is an artist, writer and musician. He was born in Chicago, has lived all over the United States, and currently resides in San Diego. As an artist, his primary medium is photography. With his diverse background in the arts, as well as engineering, he is able to approach creative expression from a range of viewpoints.

His photo work has been exhibited nationally for over twenty years and featured in numerous group and solo shows. He has also conducted expressive arts seminars throughout the country.

His recent work explores the universal through the macro lens.

Extreme close-ups when enlarged become expressions of his soul, and for the observer, windows into other worlds.

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ART OF PRIDE PROUD AT PRIDE 2017

RUBEN WAREZ Pride as Virtue Mixed Media 29” x 16” $125 When I was working on Pride As Virtue, I was transitioning jobs, transitioning apartments and I was also getting over a breakup. The process of creating my piece was a way of honoring my negative emotions and self-destructive tendencies while actively deciding to create something calm and meaningful on the other end.

Likewise, the “rags” are stained in the rainbow colors and tattered in order to represent the shame that I had to overcome as a gay man on my road to selfdiscovery. Furthermore, when I sat down to decide how I wanted to represent “true pride” as a virtue, I felt that the best way would be to use white on white (because pride can be modest). Additionally, I wanted to offer what I have learned in my own journey: Pride as a Virtue goes hand-in-hand with a healthy sense of self-esteem and behaviors that may not always be fun or enjoyable but do lead to a truer and deeper sense of self.

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ART OF PRIDE will be featuring LGBTQ artists at San Diego Pride’s Festival July 15 - 16, 2017 in Balboa Park, San Diego, CA 84

Photography of Artist by Jeff Caffarel 85

“Where there is no light, one cannot see; and when one cannot see, his imagination starts to run wild.

He begins to suspect something is about to happen.

In the dark, there is mystery.�

- from Painting with Light (1949) by Cinematographer John Alton

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With a sense of being dropped into the middle of a story, the viewer is emerged in the artist’s most intimate work to date. Working in black and white with subtle tones, Stillman creates stylistic night scenes that blend societal issues with revealing narratives.

“By using the noir-inspired style and playing with hardboiled characterizations of gangsters and fatales, I get to visually explore identity as a journey.

In my paintings, I am creating fictional realities that offer an expanding perspective on what it is to be a man and as in my case, a gay man,” said Stillman.

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Artist Index ARTIST

LOCATION

WEBSITE

PAGE #

Brandin Barón

San Francisco, CA

brandinbaron.com

7-8

Gerald Barnes

Fair Oaks, CA

geraldbarnes.artspan.com

9-10

Théo Bignon

Richmond, WA

-

11-12

Patrick Brown

Escondido, CA

patricknbrown.net

13-16

Jessica Carder

North Little Rock, AR

jessicacarder.com

17-18

Brett Dyer

Lewisville, TX

brettleedyer.wix.com/artist

19-20

Santiago Exheverry

Tampa, FL

santi.tv

21-22

Tim Ray Fisher

San Diego. CA

-

23-24

Eugene Huffman

Los Angeles, CA

myportfolio.liebekunst.com

25-26

Matt Hufford

Sacramento, CA

matthuffordart.com

27-28

Drew Justice

Knoxville, TN

drewjusticecreations.com

29-30

Jennifer Kennedy

Woodland Hills, CA

bytes2atoms.com

31-32

89

PROUD ARTIST

LOCATION

WEBSITE

PAGE #

Water Kerner

Glendale, CA

waterkerner.com

33-34

John Krenik

Plymouth,MA

johnkrenik.com

35

Sam Lasris

Cedar Grove, NC

-

36-38

Cyriaco Lopes

New York, NY

cyriacolopes.com

39-40

Shaun Martins

Cranston, RI

shaunmartins.com

41-42

Mac McCuster

Asheville, NC

macmccuskerceramics.com

43-44

Hugo Moro

Seattle, WA

hmoro.com

45-46

Kathryn Noska

Phoenixville, PA

kathrynenoska.com

47-48

Marlene Núñez

Dallas, TX

marlene-nunez.com

49-50

Vasilios Papapitsios

Los Angeles, CA

www.vasiliospapapitsios.com

51-52

David Phelps

Los Angeles, CA

-

53

Meredith Power

Overland Park, KS -

54

90

Artist Index

PROUD

ARTIST

LOCATION

WEBSITE

PAGE #

Mark Ratenbach

Cape Town, South Africa

markrautenbach.com

55-56

Devon Reiffer

Philadelphia,PA

devonreiffer.com

57-58

JP Schuiteman

San Diego, CA

-

59-62

Hunter Scott

Kansas City, MO

-

63-64

Jacqueline Secor

Salt Lake City, UT

-

65-66

Patric Stillman

San Diego, CA

my-reality.com

67-68; 85-88

Ramona Szczerba

San Diego, CA

winonacookieillustration.com 69-70

Stefan Talian

San Diego, CA

stefantalian.com

71-72

Michael Tkach

Erie, PA

michaeltkach.com

73-74

John Waiblinger

Los Angeles, CA

johnwaiblinger.com

75-76

91

PROUD AT PRIDE ARTIST

LOCATION

WEBSITE

PAGE #

John Carlos Keasler

San Diego, CA

jkeasler.com

79

Barry La Follette

San Diego, CA

-

80

Patrick McMahon

San Diego, CA

patrickmc.com

81-82

RD Riccoboni

San Diego, CA

rdriccoboni.com

77-78

Aris Tjhin

San Diego, CA

ariestjhinart.blogspot.com

79

Ruben Warez

San Diego, CA

instagram.com/BenBTrippy

83-84

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