Schlomer Haus Gallery is proud to present its inaugural exhibition "Unseen Seen" featuring six artists who subvert the heternormative gaze.
Artists:
Heather Benjamin
Heather Benjamin (b. 1989, New York) received her BFA in Printmaking from the Rhode Island School of Design. She began her career by self-publishing zines and prints of her drawings, and now primarily makes drawings and paintings on paper and canvas. Benjamin makes figurative work that revolves around a mystical feminine protagonist, who simultaneously serves as an avatar for her personal experiences of the traumas of womanhood, as well as a manifestation of power, resilience, and self-embodiment. She lives and works in New York City.
LaneeE bird
Lanee Bird is an indigenous queer photographer, colorist and video editor based between Los Angeles and New York City. Through her photography she reveals the intersections of fine art, fashion and fetishism. A self proclaimed dyke and pervert, she uses her camera to distort aesthetics into the erotic.
Evan Paul English
Evan Paul English is an interdisciplinary artist currently residing in Brooklyn, NY. He received his BFA from University of Arizona and later earned his MFA from Pratt Institute in 2016. Born and raised in Boise, Idaho, his upbringing greatly impacted the work that he currently makes. Collecting objects that resonate with his past is a main component of his practice, from the streets, vintage stores and thrift stores. Such materials are used to create sculptures, fiber pieces and as inspiration for paintings, all to explore the relationships between gender, class, sexuality, and the pyschological effects of growing up queer in America.
His interest in identity and self-reclamation has gone on to inspire his work as a tattoo artist, working primarily with the queer community of Brooklyn. Recent tattoo work involves using found floral textiles and reimagining them into tattoo designs. Through the act of tattooing, and thus physical transformation, the body becomes the home for conservative decorative motives, a symbol of reclamation of the body as well as histories of repression within nuclear family homes. Taking those same floral fabrics as inspiration for paintings, he uses a small viewfinder to find abstract compositions within the fabric, and enlarges them to various size paintings. The process of abstraction reveals a new experience with a familiar motif, making space for contemplation and revelation.
David King
David King is a visual artist working in painting, drawing and collage. His work has been shown in Europe and across the U.S., including venues such as Artist's Space in New York, The Soap Factory in Minneapolis and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and The Lab in San Francisco. In addition to a wonderful month at The Lucid Art Foundation where he started painting, he has enjoyed several other residencies – including Ucross and Jentel in Wyoming, and Recology in San Francisco. He is the recipient of a grant from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation. He lives in Grass Valley with his husband. His work can be found at DavidKingCollage.com and on Instagram @DavidKingCollage.
John Webster
John Webster is an artist/ illustrator who loves to paint and create collage works (out of vintage things he collects). He has exhibited in Toronto, Vancouver and NYC and is mostly known for his popular queer blog Sissydude (2008- 2017). John lives in Toronto, Canada with his cat Sebastian.
Ryan McMenamy
Ryan McMenamy is an artist who is inspired by the relationship between image and fashion. A graduate of Parsons School of Design, he has worked for such names as Calvin Klein, Bergdorf Goodman, V Mann, Men’s File, Hercules Universal, Man Of The World, and H&M to name a few. His strength rests in his ability to focus on the essential beauty of simplicity as he explores the quietude of his subject. The artist’s commitment to perceptual art and his close relationship to illustration give his work a unique quality. Today McMenamy divides his time between New York City and Provincetown, MA
