Joaquin Golez and I came together for an exhibition around gratification, desire, ecstasies & tender emotions where there is no separation and assumptions to who, what, and how we should be. A celebration of life, art, and the multiplicities of the human experience that is nature and humanity.

Joaquin contribute gorgeous illustrations that reinvent pornographic imagery as biblical scenes in a lush, soothing color palette. I made a series of sculptures from bronze, plaster, dried egg and fig, and discarded fruit holders sourced from SCRAP creative reuse center in Portland, OR. This collaboration began when I shared a bronze replica that I made of myself with Joaquin, which I titled ‘Gayvid’ as a reference to classic sculptures of David by Michelangelo and Donatello. We worked collaboratively on the work, as well as the exhibition layout in the space, and co-wrote a poem in the form of a prayer that we gave away as limited-edition prints inside the exhibition.

Photos by Gala Gage

Thanks to Taravat Telepasand, Joaquin Golez, Steve Brown, Emma Duehr, Erik Geshke