DESCRIPTION

A painterly kaleidoscope of Black queer life

Bright paint, sequins, rhinestones, fabric, feathers: the paintings of Pittsburgh-based artist Devan Shimoyama (born 1989) resemble midsummer night dreams of alternative masculinities. A graduate of the Yale School of Art, Shimoyama embraces the pain and joy of Black and queer life in psychedelic day-glo colors. The majority of his works depict Black men transposed into allegorical scenes from Greek mythology and tarot imagery (Shimoyama has stated that he wants the figures in his work to be perceived as "both desirable and desirous"); for example, Abduction of Ganymede depicts a figure resembling the artist swept up in the air by Zeus in the form of an eagle. The painting deploys Shimoyama’s signature materials: Ganymede’s eyes are rhinestones and costume jewelry, and the eagle’s wings are gilt.

This lavishly designed catalog, produced for his first institutional solo exhibition in Europe, provides an excellent introduction to Shimoyama’s electrifying art.

REVIEWS

“I was blown away by his vibrant and queer mythological paintings. You have to move quickly on this one because copies of this exhibition catalog (his first show is in Europe, come through America!) are getting harder to find.” —Dan Graham, LitHub

"The motif of Aquarius runs through Shimoyama's oeuvre, with all its interesting interweaving of cultures," Amely Deiss writes. "The 'Age of Aquarius' has long since ceased to be something that is longed for and invoked in wider circles—even if the idea of a society characterized by tolerance, freedom, equality and a willingness to share remains just as desirable today as it was in the 1970s and 1980s. In Shimoyama's images, however, this idea is suddenly realized. He makes it come true, this utopia: it is loud, quiet, radiant, serene. A foretaste of an ideal coexistence in a future 'now.' Heavenly bodies in neon pink." —Amely Deiss