Featured
Artists
Series
The Featured Artist Series is in partnership with Gasher Journal's forthcoming print issue, AFTER: A Collection of Ekphrastic Writing and Art.
Each month, we will feature an artist here and invite writers to submit creative writing in reaction to the art showcased. Select ekphrastic writings will be featured alongside the art at the gallery showcase at the Ana Mendieta Gallery at The University of Iowa May 6th - May 18th.
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Submit creative responses to the featured artist's work to PRESS @ GASHERJOURNAL . C O M with the Subject line listing the month and genre. For example: MAY_Poetry.
Previous months:
August Artist: Padyn Humble
Padyn Humble is a sculptor and installation artist from Montana whose practice reinterprets the intention and nuances of our cultural symbols to establish meaning with a queer perspective. Inspiration stems from various influences like old country music, cartoons, pop culture, kitsch, and “masculine” aesthetics. He has been an active artist since 2014 and is currently working in Berlin, Germany. He earned his MFA in May 2022 and was awarded International Sculpture Center’s ‘Outstanding Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture’ and was featured in Sculpture Magazine. Summer of 2023 he will be a resident at Wassaic Project in New York State.
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About the art:
“I was raised in Montana, where my queerness was shaped in response to cowboy romanticism and expectations of rugged masculinity. Drawing on stage props, trompe l'oeil, and cartoon rendering, my work attempts to unmask the camp inside the myth, seeking the sensual, sexual, and absurd through a sincere surrealism. My practice is a device to recognize the nuance that exists at the margins, dissecting the social structures that validate rigid behavior while weeding out patterns that no longer fit. I often interrogate interiority, queer ingenuity, intimacy, and historical currency through the symbolic collage of my practice.”
pleaser
Foam, cardboard, paper clay, epoxy clay, wood, 26” zipper, resin, Mississippi sediment, acrylic paint, polyurethane, aluminum chain, hardware. 32x8x16”.
cadillac
Cowboy hat top, Toyota hubcap, broken Cadillac emblem, crystal chainlink, foam, paper clay, acrylic paint, resin.
16x16x12”.
kentucky rain
Cardboard, carved foam, aqua resin, ribbed cotton, zipper, acrylic paint, wire, steel rod, paper mache, small motor, extension cord.
patsy cline
chipboard, paper mache, aqua resin, steel rod, acrylic paint, oil paint.
loose ends
country connection
Carved foam, wood, aqua resin, joint compound, oil paint, resin.
rode hard n put away wet
Faux wood paneling, leather belt, found image, epoxy clay, carved foam, paper mache, mirror paint, Wyoming quarter, resin.
blue boy bathing
Carved foam, wood, paper clay, aqua resin, acrylic paint, colored pencil, resin. 24x38x4”.
here’s to you and whoever holds my baby blue
Carved foam, aqua resin, epoxy clay, wire, paper mache, acrylic paint, resin, dried grass.