By Rick Sindt
Located in Chicago, IL
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...
Category
2010s Contemporary Art by Medium: Graphite
