Details:
① Artwork:
CatPig and Shrimp Dick on the Occasion of Their Anniversary, to Which You are Not Invited
With these characters, the artist liked how “they are both two words combined that don’t entirely go together, though the combos function quite differently.” That, she feels, has to do with people’s obsession with queer bodies and the absurdity of how caring about a genital preference is out in the open.
Sarah Bastress makes compositions populated by queer people and creatures from rural America found in various states of both aggressive and tender play. Her bodies are full of possibilities, as they intentionally portray explicit imagery and signifiers that either add up to joy or menace, although without any firm conclusions.
Specs:
Glazes of deep red hearts are faint but visible in patterning across the background of the composition. Visible paint marks are seen along all edges of the painting, showing the energy of the painting style that most canvases begin with.
③ Artist:
Sarah Bastress makes compositions populated by queer people and creatures from rural America found in various states of both aggressive and tender play. Most of her paintings are self-contained narratives ruminating on her own body and how it relates to other bodies. Full of queer excitement, visual puns, and a healthy dose of self-deprecation, the scenes in her paintings are born out of the confusion and longing of the pandemic era, having become even more preposterous, surreal, and ambiguous since. Bastress’s bodies are full of possibilities, as they intentionally portray explicit imagery and signifiers that either add up to joy or menace, although without drawing any firm conclusions.
Sarah Bastress was born in 1989 in Kingwood, WV, and lives in Chicago, IL. She received her BA in Government from Smith College in Northampton, MA (2012) and her MFA in Painting and Drawing from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago, IL (2016).
She has mounted solo exhibitions at RUSCHMAN, Chicago, IL (2022), and Boundary, Chicago, IL (2019).
Bastress has also been featured in group exhibitions, including The Long Dream at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL (2020); Sticky Thoughts at Julius Caesar, Chicago, IL (2018); and Animal Farm at Dalton Warehouse in Los Angeles, CA (2017).
When it comes to the names of these titular characters, the artist believes “they are both two words combined that don’t entirely go together, though the combos function quite differently.” That, she feels, has to do with people’s obsession with queer bodies and the absurdity of how caring about a genital preference is out in the open.More
- Unframed
- Signed
