Queers Just Wanna Have Fun II
An online Exhibition
Juried by The Queerly Collective Team
With a global pandemic, genocide, racism, endless "phobias" of other humans, and many more gut-wrenching aspects continuing to blight our lives, we at Queerly Collective decided to do another year of Queers Just Wanna Have Fun. We all need to be and feel seen and heard, especially now. We created this exhibition to showcase pieces we feel exude joy in one way or another. Whether the artist felt joy creating it, joy is the emotion it provokes, or joy can be found somewhere in-between.
We would like to thank you for the extraordinary number of submissions we received. With this being our annual exhibition we are thrilled by the prospects for our future at Queerly Collective, as well as the ways in which we are able to serve the queer artists and makers community. We would not exist without our predecessors and without each and every one of you. Thank you for joining us in this journey, and giving us the ability to showcase these international artists. We will continue to mirror the world we desire to exist in and fight for our collective voices and visions to be seen and heard. We are humbled to be in service to our community.
​
* = Juror's Pick
WELCOME HOME CUBBYHOLE + WELCOME HOME GINGERS
Leanne Gann/ Digital/ 1200 X 1200 PX or 6’’ X 9’’ Print/ 2020
​
DURING THE PANDEMIC, I MISSED HOME IN MANY DIFFERENT WAYS. I’VE GROWN ACCUSTOMED TO LIVING ON THE OPPOSITE COAST OF MY IMMEDIATE FAMILY, ONLY BECAUSE I GOT TO BE A PART OF DIFFERENT FAMILY EVERY NIGHT I VISITED THESE SPACES. THESE PIECES REFLECT
MY LOVE AND SENSE OF HOME I FEEL WHENEVER I GO TO THE CUBBY- HOLE, GINGER’S BAR, AND HENRIETTA HUDSON.
​
COME INSIDE CUBBYHOLE + COME INSIDE HENRIETTA HUDSON
Leanne Gann/ Digital/ 1200 X 1200 PX or 6’’ X 9’’ Print/ 2020
Bejeweled VII (top)
Lauren Darrouzet/ Sterling Silver, Mirrored Acrylic, Resin, Vintage Swarovski Crystals, Sugru, Holographic Film, Steel/ 2.5” x 2.5” 0.5”/ 2020
​
Bejeweled V (middle)
Lauren Darrouzet/ Sterling Silver, Acrylic, Resin, Holographic Glitter, Cubic Zirconia, Steel/ 2” x 2” x 0.5”/ 2020
​
Bejeweled VIII (bottom)
Lauren Darrouzet/ Sterling Silver, Mirrored Acrylic, Resin, Vintage Swarovski Crystals, Sugru, Holographic Film, Steel/ 2.5” x 2.5” 0.5”/ 2020
​
My research explores childhood memories and nostalgia. I investigate longing, control, and delight in relationship to the act of collecting objects during my youth. In my recent work, references to the time in which I grew up, the 1990’s, appear in both subtle and familiar ways. Combining plastic materials, vivid colors, kinetic elements, and bright stones, my work encapsulates the joy I felt when searching for the perfect accessory.
​
Whether poring over physical objects like stones, stickers, and miniatures or wandering through my vast collections of memories, the process of making these pieces has allowed me to reexamine my childhood self and psyche. Obtaining and organizing these treasures created a sense of order in a chaotic world. The creation of this work fulfills a part of me that longs for my past – a time when life was much simpler and less complicated. The meditative act of designing and embellishing my work allows me to connect with the person I once was, which gives life to colorful, reflective, and playful ornamentation.
A wise woman once said ‘nobody cares and you won’t shut up’
Cat Gunn/ Acrylic, Oil, Alkyd, and Glitter on Canvas on Panel/ 24’’ x 20’’/ 2019
​
My work highlights moments of my life that are romantic, sentimental, nostalgic, and tragic. Through abstraction I create an underlying narrative of growing up queer and non-binary transgender, forming relationships, falling in and out of love, and examining the world around me. Many of my paintings derive from the experience of navigating space in a world where the gender binary is ingrained into many aspects. These selected works specifically highlight moments of my life in which my identity had been acknowledged, validated, and respected. My paintings revolve around the notion of creating space from a queer perspective with a playful awkwardness. These self-contained worlds are made up of repeating stripes, gradated forms, twisted squiggles, and organic shapes. Skewed geometry with hard edges flirt with expressive grounds and fields of color, creating an ambiguous space that is dizzying, strange, and dynamic. The quirky geometry and irregularity of patterns allow for vulnerable and imperfect moments, and are equally about sameness as they are about difference. The work, both as physical objects and as windows into an illusionistic world, suggests a transfer between states— erratic and ever-evolving.
All the places I want to go
Athena Nemeth/ Beads, Thread, and Postage Stamps/ 2020
​
What is important in my art practice is to work with degradable material. I like to find discarded or old objects that I can dissect and rip apart and turn into a completely different foreign object you wouldn’t imagine. I love to work with thread because it has this connection to being domesticated but at the same time it is becoming an area of art that is contemporary and new and people are pushing themselves in new mediums to portray.
Squishamals
Gianna Zaro/ Gouache/ 9’’ x 12’’/ 2020
​
The shift to online has been a difficult change for many, but also not one without its positive effects. Covid-19 took away our ability to connect in person, but groups of people who share a common interest have been able to stay connected through technology. For those who use rope-tying as a release and escape from daily life; they need their fellow community members to come together and search for effective ways that they can all stay connected.
The conversations that I was able to have with riggers and rope bunnies served as inspiration for the gouache prints that I created. I was graciously given photographs of the interviewee’s favorite ties; either that they had done, or had done onto them. These photographs became the basis of the paintings.
​
Bloobity Blopp
Heather S. Nuber/ Glass, Copper, Body, Surroundings/ Image 7’’ x 2.5” Object- 3.5’’ x 3’’ x 6.5” Body- 23’’ x 17’’ x 69.5” Surroundings- Infinite/ 2021
​
As an inter-disciplinary artist, my work focuses on the dynamics of personal relationships, and social interactions through the expression of form, and exploration of materials. Bloobity Blopp and Bloppity Bloob are part of a larger study, which combines glass with copper and other materials. In making these objects, I considered themes of constraint, restraint, expansion, and freedom. As the maker, I can try to coax, direct and frame the glass, but each new work brings joyous discoveries. The materials are a reflection of who we are as queer folx. We are strong and fragile, bound yet boundless, transparent and opaque, malleable until immovable; light and beauty are reflected onto the world through us.
Bloppity Bloob
Heather S. Nuber/ Glass, Copper, Body, Surroundings/ Image 7’’ x 2.5” Object- 4.25’’ x 4.5’’ x 7” Body- 23’’ x 17’’ x 69.5” Surroundings- Infinite/ 2021
Shadow Puppet Theater (top)
Frankie Modesto/ Oil on canvas/ 48’’ x 60’’/ 2021
​
Freedom to Want (bottom)
Frankie Modesto/ Oil on Canvas/ 60’’ x 36’’/ 2021
​
My name is Frankie Modesto and I am an artist originally from rural Pennsylvania, now residing in Philadelphia. I approach many of my paintings in a diaristic way. For me, inspiration comes from my friends, loved ones, and the desire to archive my experiences and time with them. In my recent paintings, I immortalize these memories of friendship and intimacy, and imagine moments that have not yet happened. With a focus on the interpersonal relationships between figures, both humans and animals alike whisper, gossip, laugh, and perform, creating narratives of their own within my paintings.
Love is the driving force in my work. As my dreams and memories merge with the physical world, ordinary expressions of love are reimagined into a world of fantasy. The resulting stories are romanticized, dramatic, and look ahead with a desperate sense of optimism.
The Wilds
Wesley Haack/ Digitally-Edited Photography / 8” x 12”/ 2021
​
Art- This is art for a world that makes you sick. When you are brought close to Death and immersed in pain, when you collapse from Injustice and your eyes are held too far open, that is when this art will speak to you. It will erase rigid binaries by building soft forms from hard lines, deconstruct power by conveying beauty through brutality and refuse fear by refusing to hide. This art rejects colonial definitions and structures of gender, love, power and fear. It embraces bodies in all their shame and celebrates the presence of Death in nature and all things.This is art that does not ignore reality; it seeks to change it.
Me- I am a transgender artist, activist and real life human being! I have lived all around California since being born in the small town of Bishop, and now I live in a community of artists in Oakland, California. I am primarily a self-taught artist with a B.S. in Biology from Fresno State, where I also received some technical training in taxidermy and printmaking. In addition to these mediums, I am also a tattoo apprentice!
Me+Art- My queerness has a strong influence on my art and I often draw inspiration from the resilience and beauty of my community. I also find inspiration in the secrets I unearth when I take things apart and put them back together. Most of all, I find these muses when I stay still and learn to listen to the world around me.
