Brief Encounters: Queer Instant Photography
February 1-28, 2025
Opening Reception
Saturday, February 1, 5-8 pmOpen Hours
Sat-Sun 12-5 pmdrop in or by appointment
Email info@carnationcontemporary.com
to schedule a visit
Brief Encounters is an exploration of the legacy of artists using instant photography to express the queer experience. Queer people have used instant formats to protect the free expression of their intimacies, relationships, sexual liaisons, and communities; some of the risks of showing these images exist to this day. Brief Encounters functions to encourage artists to freely express aspects of queerness, resulting in diverse approaches to the instant format. Audiences will witness deeply personal glimpses into the lives of these artists as well as wild departures from what one may expect from “queer photography.”
Carnation member Michael Espinoza organized Brief Encounters simply to gather as many of their favorite artists in one place and to generate a robust focal point for a growing queer creative community. Many of these artists have been connected in online platforms for years, borrowing inspiration from each other, swapping nudes, and constantly promoting each others work. Michael hopes that this show will be a joyous capitulation of a community that has developed organically in digital spaces.
Viewers will notice strong attention to aspects of artists’ sexuality throughout this show. This is not an accident: the fact of our sexuality is the basis for our marginalization. Instant formats have from their beginning been used by queer people as confidential documents of our lives. This show functions to expose these often hidden aspects of how we express ourselves. Many of these artists bravely reject the notion that our sex lives are shameful and must be hidden. In this way, we expect that some audiences will receive this show as a celebration of free queer expression, and all are welcome to celebrate with us.
An enormous range of art practices are represented in this exhibition. Many artists are established with solo exhibitions and work in major collections. Other artists are showing in a gallery for the very first time with Brief Encounters. As the challenge for this group was to present “instant photography,” several artists are showing work that has never been exhibited before, simply because they had not seriously considered their instant media as belonging in a gallery context.
Many through-lines emerged as this show developed. Many artists have captured images of their own bodies, while may others have put close attention onto other bodies. There are sculptural approaches as well as print, textile, drawing and painting which expand the meaning of the form. Elements of obscuring, manipulating, collaging, and incorporating digital media amount to not only queerness as personal expression but as queer approaches to instant photographs. Many works reclaim the remainders of a traditional photographic practice in the form of film canisters, test shots, and negatives. Even in works which present straight-forward images, these artists have gone to great lengths to contextualize their work as through a queer lens, sometimes building a narrative, while at other times accumulating an overwhelmingly sensual experience.
The most surprising connection that emerged through this project was how these artists take what would otherwise be waste and transform it into fully realized artwork for this exhibition. These queer artists seem to have a natural tenderness towards things which have been neglected, marginalized or thrown away. This is on full display throughout this show: Chris Moody transforms a toy from a free pile into an exploration of the universe; Ian Lewandowski produces his Polaroids on long-expired film as a by-product of his large format photography practice; Jackson Fader and Carlos Enfedaque use Polaroid “mistakes” as surfaces for compositions in other media; Shadows Gather exposes the “waste” surfaces of Instax Mini exposures before producing large prints; C Meier fully embraces the flaws inherent to the media to produce abstract harmony; many of these artists consider pictures of their intimacies mere byproducts of other practices. This common sensibility makes sense. Queer people must interpret and reconfigure the prevailing culture not only for meaningful self expression, but also for our survival. Without these creative suggestions for how to meaningfully express our queerness, many future generations may not learn how to be seen. This show reaches towards the survival of queer people for all time.
EXHIBITING ARTISTS
Ryan Rudewicz @rude.polaroids
Wayne Bund @bundlandia
Ian Lewandowski @ilewando
Soft Butch @soft_butch
Catalina Bulgach @oldassdutchess
Nate Francis @natehfrancis
Tom Kay @tomofportland
Jamieson Edson @j_a_m_i_e_s
Chris Moody @horsegurlpress
José Tinoco @j0setin0c0
Shadows Gather @shadows.gather
Kareem Michael Worrell @kareemworrellphoto
C Meier @rispix
Christian Rogers @christianmakesthings
Michael Espinoza @michaelespinozaart
Jackson Fader @bigbrojacks
Stuart Sandford @stuartsandford
Carlos Enfedaque @enfedead