Browsing Tag

artist

Remembering Félix González-Torres: Queer Latinx Art and the Caribbean-American ‘South’

A photo of Félix González-Torres.

Forty years ago, Félix González-Torres arrived in New York City from Puerto Rico, marking the beginning of his emergence as one of the most influential conceptual artists of his generation. During a brilliant career cut tragically short by his death from AIDS, the openly gay, Cuban-born, Latino-American artist produced a wide range of works that challenged spectators to participate in the creative experience and to formulate their own meanings. Through photography, billboards, and installations comprised of everyday objects, he evoked…

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Eye for an Eye’s Jess Swaim Talks Tattoo Artistry, Non-binary Identity in Conroe

An illustration of Conroe based tattoo artist Jess Swaim.

Tattoos. From metropolises like New York and Los Angeles to small town Texas, this art form has always welcomed the most marginalized in society. Spectrum South recently caught up with Jess Swaim, a nonbinary tattoo artist based out of Conroe, Texas, to talk about their experience tattooing LGBTQ clients, navigating a male-dominated industry, and queer parenting in the small town about an hour north of Houston.…

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5 Southern Queer Artists That Defy Your Definition of Art

A photo of queer artists Douglas Welsh.

Queer artists are often expected to produce just that: queer art. As art lovers, we anticipate these artists’ visual masterpieces to reverberate with the queer lived experiences of their creators. Subsequently, we forget that, while queer art is an extension of the artist, it is not limited to a single facet of the maker’s identity.…

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Embracing Joterías: Queer San Antonio Artist Launches Playful Pride-Inspired Merch

A photo of Joterías by Jose Villalobos.

After causing a stir in the Texas art scene with his participation in Mexic-Arte Museum’s annual Young Latino Artist exhibition (Young Latino Artists 22: ¡Ahora!) in Austin, Jose Villalobos is shifting his energies from the world of fine art to the creation of a brand new line of LGBTQ Pride-themed novelty items. For those of us who may not be able to afford museum-quality artworks, this line of merchandise allows the perfect opportunity to support the arts while showing a bit of pride. The…

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All This and Heaven Too: San Antonio Retrospective Celebrates Gay, HIV-Positive Artist Chuck Ramirez

A photo of gay artist Chuck Ramirez, whose retrospective, All This and Heaven Too, is at the McNay Art Museum.

Sometimes, less is more. That can certainly be said about the life and creations of openly gay artist Chuck Ramirez. His work has been described as a form of photographic minimalism created in the span of a relatively brief but productive period (1995-2010). Ramirez’s death following a cycling accident at age 48 shook the arts community, but seven years later, his artistic stock continues to rise as collectors and museums around the country become privy to his many accomplishments.…

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If Only We Could Remember: Being Queer and Indigenous in the South

A photo of queer indigenous activist Eydka Chilomé.

I am an unapologetic queer indigenous femme woman, activist, artist, and educator with hair on my legs and under my armpits. I currently live in a place called Texas where I bear witness to police killings, klan/neo-nazi rallies, confederate flags, and trump propaganda—essentially white supremacy wrapped in the violently-appropriated indigenous Mexican aesthetic of the “cowboy.” Today, the u.s. South yells the same war cry that my ancestors have heard over and over again—a proud declaration of settler colonialism. …

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