Celso José Castro Daza

The Boys- Penis. Carbon Pencil on archival paper

1996

Drawing on paper is his basic work tool, some are sketches of his surviving works, others are sketches of moments he documents. Undefined by medium, Celso Castro’s works each carry the presence of the artist’s hand through the transparency of their process. Castro’s oeuvre is strongly divided between his photomontage assemblies and watercolor paintings: the prior is marked by the labor-intensive deconstruction of portrait photographs and the latter, by the seemingly frenzied recreation of a past encounter rendered in the drips and scribbles of paint and ink. Both discriminating in what they reveal of the subject, his photomontage and watercolor portraits exude raw sexuality through the combination of Castro’s mark-making and gaze. Celso Castro’s work is a bare-bulb erotic photo foray into the underbelly of Colombia’s drug world. Castro’s labor-intensive, photo-collage works of drug kingpins, smugglers, hitmen, countrymen, street vendors, soldiers, paramilitaries, kidnappers, and pimps pose showing with pride their erect penises...

Untitled, 1984 by Enrique Grau Graphite on paper Signed in the lower right corner. Great condition. Provenance: Private collection. Image size: 12 in H x ...

Untitled III, 1984 by Enrique Grau Graphite on paper Signed in the top right corner. Great condition. Provenance: Private collection. Image size: 12 in H ...

Para Celso, 1984 by Enrique Grau Graphite on paper Image size: 23 in H x 18 in W Signed in the lower right corner. Great condition with flaws. Provenance...

This untitled work by Rick Sindt was inspired by the works of Paul Cadmus. It is a small graphite drawing of two male nude figures with both of their faces somewhat obscured during an intimate moment. The graph lines often used by artist are still visible to distinguish between the photographic elements of a Polaroid photo and this actual drawing. The piece is framed in a white float frame measuring 12.5h x 10.5w inches. Rick Sindt Untitled - After Cadmus graphite on panel 10h x 8w in 25.40h x 20.32w cm Shifting the historic male gaze into a male-on-male gaze, this body of work anchors its exploration of queer culture in relationships and introspection. Beginning with a survey of several photo archives, I overwhelmingly encountered pictures that fit into two distinct categories: spectacular demonstrations or public displays of sexuality. All of these images were overtly political. Then, I began to find a subset of more intimate images. Typically, these were images submitted by loved ones or donated to foundations after someone’s death. These images depicted common, tender scenes. Working my way through these images, I reflected on D. A. Miller’s assertion that gay identity, to which we have entrusted our politics and ethics, stands in an essentially reductive relation to the queer desires on which it is based. And David Halperin’s argument that, “identity has become the preferred category for thinking about homosexuality. Moreover, it has been promoted at the direct expense of pleasure or feelings or subjectivity.” This left me asking the questions: how is queer culture transmitted if not genealogically? Is there a universal queer experience? What is queer sensibility and subjectivity and can it be visually represented? In the body of work submitted here, black and white graphite drawings maintain a Polaroid scale referencing the found historical photographs on which they are based, oil paintings provide isolated moments of feeling as they investigate questions about queer dispositions in a contemporary setting, and a few key sketches provide insight into how a few individual inquiries began. Rick Sindt b. 1990, Hastings, MN, EDUCATION 2013 North Park University, Chicago, IL - BFA Magna Cum Laude SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2016 Two Countries, Rogue Philanthropy, Chicago, IL 2013 Tides, Erosion or Catch, Pull, Recover; The-One-Right-Now, North Park University; Chicago, IL GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2016 Are We Not of Interest to Each Other, Uptown Arts Center, Chicago, IL Reinventing Ourselves From Another Point-of-View, Contemporary Gallery at Zhou B. Arts Center, Chicago, IL Collective: Process, Beans and Bagels, Chicago, IL 2015 Collective: for(a)ging, Hammond Art Center; Hammond, IN How We Make It, The Arts of Life, Chicago, IL Collective: One, Albany Park...

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