I’ve been an artist and performer my whole life, but I haven’t always made “fine art.” That is, the kind of art that you go to school for. Truth be told, the only art class I ever took was during grad school and it was a feminist theory class not a practical course. This year when I began making paintings on glass people began to describe the type of art I make by making references to other artists that it might be related to. When the opportunity to do a show at Booby’s (my favorite local sandwich shop), I thought it might be a good idea to trace some of those connections for myself and to share them with whoever happens by. The following descriptions are not meant to be exhaustive biographies of these artists, but rather to explain the way I see their work and what about it inspires or shapes the way I make or approach my own artwork. A second note, these are the digital drawings not the paintings themselves. To see those, you are welcome to attend the opening on July 8th 5-7pm.

Diane Arbus (1923-1971) was an American photographer best known for her portraiture. She stretched the boundaries of who could be the subject of photography. Her willingness to connect with her subjects is one thing that sets her work apart from other photographers. In the New York Times Magazine article, “Arbus Reconsidered”, Arthur Lubow states, “She was fascinated by people who were visibly creating their own identities—cross-dressers, nudists, sideshow performers, tattooed men, the nouveaux riches, the movie-star fans—and by those who were trapped in a uniform that no longer provided any security or comfort.” She inspires me to fearlessly follow my curiosity and connect with people and to make people I love the subject of my work.

Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) American painter and street artist who began his career doing graffiti in New York City under the moniker SAMO with Al Diaz. They would create what I would consider visual poetry in the form of street art. As he developed he would make works out of a variety of materials that ranged from oil paintings on canvas, to clothing, wood, and newspapers. He was critical of capitalism and racism. Crowns, animals and words are recurring images in his work. I am inspired by Basquiat’s willingness to see everything as art and to make art out of anything. He inspires me to lean into my own aesthetic and to share the way I see the world with my art.

Alison Bechdel (1960-alive and making) American cartoonist and author. Best known for her for a long running comic strip (1983-2008) called Dykes to Watch Out For and critically acclaimed memoir Fun Home, she is masterful in narrating and illustrating complex stories of queerness, coming of age, and loss. For me, her work reminds me to bring story to the forefront of my work and to remember that even the simplest images can become complex when juxtaposed with theory and lived experience. Her writing process that includes journaling and an insistence on what actually happened and her insistence on detail inform my obsession with working from photographs and my desire to document things exactly as they were.

Claude Cahoun (1894-1954) French/Jewish surrealist writer, photographer, and sculptor. She saw herself as a master of transformation and was known for her photography of herself in a variety of performative personae. In addition to her artwork, she is known for her activism against the Nazis with her partner Marcel Moore for which they were sentenced to death (though their lives were spared by the armistice). The creative gender bending work she did, even in the face of tremendous danger and discrimination is inspiring.

Salvador Dalí (1904-1989) Spanish surrealist artist, author, critic, impresario, and provocateur. Dalí’s work is strange, it is otherworldly, it uses distortion to help us question the way we see the world. To my estimation, his work is the quintessential surrealist art. That said, he was a pretty big jerk, so that’s where my inspo ends.

Spikey Van Dykey (Jamie Kalman) Drag King, DJ, Emcee, Costume Designer, Multimedia Artist. If you ever get the chance to see a Spikey performance, you should GO! Onstage he is energetic, conspicuous, and occasionally sparks literally fly during performances (often uses a spark grinder). He is truly a master of his craft—male illusion. His work combines airbrush artistry, makeup expertise, and custom-made glitter beards. He reminds me to live and love OUT LOUD.

Barbara Hammer (1939-2019) American feminist filmmaker and pioneer of queer cinema. Barbara Hammer made more than 90 movies. She is also known for her performance work, installation art, photographs, collages and drawings. Her aim was to deconstruct dominant narratives that served to disempower women and LGBTQ individuals. Her experimental films insisted that lesbians existed and that their lives deserved to be seen and archived.

Keith Haring (1958-1990) American artist and activist. What began with chalk drawings in the subway of NYC exploded into a language of queer joy and revolution. His barking dogs, dancing people, crawling babies, and other cartoon like characters are instantly recognizable and he made them available to everyone with reasonably priced merch in his POP shop. His work speaks against racism and apartheid, homophobia, and HIV/AIDs phobia.

Hannah Höch (1889-1978) German Dadaist collage and photomontage artist. Known for her thoughtful criticism of patriarchy within the Dadaist movement, the art world, and society as a whole. She was androgynous, bisexual, and independent and not afraid to articulate her ideas by cutting together photos, texts, images, and other materials to make meaningful critique. This willingness to be exactly herself is what inspires me about her.

David Hockney (1937-2026) English painter, print maker, digital artist, set designer and photographer. When David Hockney began creating artworks in London it was still a criminal offense to be gay. He painted them anyway. Later he moved to the states and fell in love with the light in California and the freedom he found there. He captured the colors of Palm Springs with paintings of water and pools. Known as one of Britains most prolific and well-known artists, he passed this June at the age of 88. His use of color, his insistence on hard work and technique, and his willingness to break the law to express love is what inspires me about him.

Jenny Holzer (1950-alive and making) American Neo-conceptional Artist known for her large installation pieces, paintings, and objects that usually incorporate texts in creative ways. Holzer has a huge scale in her imagination with a desire to see large-scale projections of texts on buildings, landscapes, on theatre marquis, the billboards of Times Square. Many of these texts expose patriarchy, sexual assault, and trauma. Some of my favorite of her works include a series of paintings in which she redacts government documents in order to draw attention to corrupt practices within the institution.

Faim Lee Jewls Drag King, artist, and organizer. Faim Lee Jewls is a Southern Illinois Local. “Born into the world of entertainment as a Phoenix, I am determined to make sure that when you see me you'll experience a time that you'll never forget.” And if you’ve seen a Faim show, you probably still have the signature scented rose to prove it. Working as a male impersonator since 2005, Faim has performed, hosted, and organized countless events and is a staple of the Southern Illinois LGBTQ community.

Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) Mexican Mexicayotl painter known for her vivid colors, self portraits and magical realist/folk art style. Never shying away from autobiography in her work, she catalogued her experience with chronic pain, trauma, and abuse. She once wrote, "I have a great restlessness about my paintings. Mainly because I want to make it useful to the revolutionary communist movement... until now I have managed simply an honest expression of my own self ...” This desire to use her work to further a cause she believe in deeply, and her willingness to explore her identity and experience inspire me.

Kiki Kogelnik (1935-1997) Austrian-American painter, sculptor, and printmaker. Considered alongside many of her contemporaries as a “pop artist” though she never preferred that categorization. Known for her unusual hats and glasses, her fashion and unique style, her work was often interested in the role of women in advertising and the fragmentation and manipulation of the human body. I appreciate her use of color and her feminist critique using the pop art palette and aesthetic.

Yayoi Kusama (1929-alive and making) Japanese contemporary artist best known for her polkadots and installation work. Her mental health is a big part of her process. With OCD, hallucinations, and mania, her works create environments that help her cope with her trauma and help her externalize the patterns and dots that she experiences in her hallucinations. I love the way she creates infinite fields and transforms spaces.

Satanic Mechanic Drag King and Visual Artist. Satanic Mechanic is known for mixing burlesque style performances with a horror aesthetic. He is an outspoken advocate for the trans community and this portrait is created from a self portrait he created entitled “Bring me Flowers While I’m Alive” that speaks to the mental health risks for our trans brothers and sisters.

Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) Dutch Painter, abstract artist known for his structured geometric paintings that use a limited palette of red, yellow, blue, black and white. His later paintings are instantly recognizable. I appreciate his connection and commitment to his vision and creation of a visual vocabulary.

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) Spanish Painter, Sculptor, and Collage artist. Known for co-founding the cubist movement, co-founding collage and the invention of the constructed sculpture. My favorite thing about Picasso is that his work over his 73 year career was always changing. You can look at his body of work and divide it into periods. I like that he was promiscuous with medium and method.

Trey Rawlings Drag Performer and Community Activist. His performances are energetic and his costumes are always on point. He and his partner run a lot of the drag shows in Paducah, Kentucky and also created an organization called OutFit that identifies and promotes businesses that are owned and operated by the LGBTQ community and/or create safe spaces for LGBTQ people in our region.

Marquez Scoggin is a local artist and community maker in Carbondale Illinois. He co-founded Project Human X with his wife Cree, and has been developing his own language with color that he calls Language X. The mission statement for PHX really articulates the way Marquez’s work and presence makes you feel, “We felt the need to create a judgment free space where human beings could express themselves freely and connect with other human beings from different cultures.” Marquez and ARThaus are working on a collaboration with our ARTcards and Marquez mentioned that his three favorite words are love, peace and joy. The color combinations on the scarf of this portrait spell out those words in the Language X.

Amy Sherald (1973-alive and making) American Painter known mostly for her portraiture of African American people in everyday settings. Notably, she was selected to do the official portrait of Michelle Obama. She documents the Black experience by creating large-scale portraits of people in their everyday environments (a practice historically reserved for the white elites). Her commitment to her art (working until 38 as a server to pay for her painting supplies), and her insistence that art and portraiture is for everyone.

Paris Starz is a Bearded Drag Queen known for her elaborate costumes, sleek makeup, and her title as America’s Bearded Queen 2025. Based in Evansville, Indiana, Paris performs, competes, and hosts drag shows across the country with style and pizazz. Her willingness to be herself and create community inspires me.

Kara Walker (1969-alive and making) American artist who uses cut paper silhouettes, drawing paintings, text, sculpture, film and shadow puppetry to tell historical stories of sexuality, violence, and slavery. Her aim is to invite the viewers to better understand the past through a critical lens and to create transformation in racial and gender stereotypes. Her work is interesting, haunting, and tells important uncomfortable truths about our past hoping to change the future.

Andy Warhol (1928-1987) American artist and filmmaker best known for pioneering the American Pop Art movement. His works include paintings, films, photography (especially Polaroids), and publishing. His work explores the relationship between art, celebrity, and consumerism. He had a space called The Factory where he created a thriving art community and a hub of creativity in NYC. His bright colors and bold designs influence my work probably more than any other artist I can think of.

Sophie Xeon (1986-2021) British music producer, songwriter and DJ. Sophie is known for her distinct electronic style that mixed experimental sound design with synthesizers and dance elements to bring about the hyperpopmicrogenre. Anonymous for a long time, Sophie came out as transgender in 2017. This portrait was made from a still from her music video “It’s okay to cry.” The numbers behind are binary code for the lyrics to that song.

INSPO

SITE MAP

FOLLOW

Arthaus

INSPO

The Book of Alchemy 100 Days

ARTICLE #2: INSPO

SITE MAP

FOLLOW

Arthaus