05/20/2024
“Downstairs”
2023 oil on canvas 36”x36”
This is one of my favorite paintings of mine to date. I have such a deep love for the interior decor of rural Appalachian homes, and this piece is an homage to the downstairs living room of my grandparents’ house. I spent a lot of time there as a kid. When I was by myself I would play with my cousins’ Barbie dolls. Notably, I cut one’s hair short and colored it with blue and green highlighters. When you’re a closeted q***r child, you often take advantage of any alone time to express your q***rness. For me, in this setting, it was restyling my cousins’ dolls and dancing around “like a girl” when I knew no one was watching. Apart from that, I loved snooping around, looking through my Papa’s old cigar boxes full of cool rocks, arrowheads, and pieces of broken ceramics that he had found over the years. He and I always shared a love of walking through the creek or the woods and just finding little treasures on the ground. There was also an old green desk that was full of stuff; from old photos from the 60’s and 70’s to a bottle of shark teeth to one of my Papa’s baby shoes, there was no shortage of little things to observe and look through. All of this within wood grain walls covered in deer heads, trophy fish, muzzle loader supplies, kitschy wood-carvings, and framed photos of rural landscapes.
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***rart ***rartist
