Each year the Castro District of San Francisco pays tribute to its gay hero and icon Harvey Milk celebrating his birthday with windows of art. This year I contribute a painting titled “Icon” which is hanging in the window of Stut at 470 Castro St. throughout May, 2020.
The shelter-in-place has given me time to work and experiment on new paintings. These studies are acrylic on 12″ tondo wood panels following the series I started titled “Queeries.”
On Wednesday April 8, 2020 I was part of a panel talking about “Fighting Back | Lessons From AIDS For Covid-19: Art and Artists in Pandemic.” The other speakers included Terry Beswick (moderator); Executive Director of the GLBT Historical Society, Lenore Chinn; a painter, photographer and cultural activist, E.G. Crichton; an interdisciplinary artist and emerita professor of art at the University of California Santa Cruz, Katie Conry; Executive Director of the Tenderloin Museum, and Leo Herrera: a Mexican self-taught visual artist, activist and writer based in San Francisco.
A video of this Zoom conversation is available by clicking here: https://youtu.be/7Q8cHaff3g8
A video tour of the “Queeries” exhibit at Strut in San Francisco.
Merchandise based on the “Queeries” paintings are now available on Redbubble. Go to JAbbati.redbubble.com to view. You can order prints, home decor, clothing and other items there. If you have a request for something you don’t see contact me and I’ll upload it.
“Queeries” is Joseph Abbati’s inquiry on the masculine figure and forms of expression from a queer point of view. Masculinity is a social construct, not a gender. Its definition in the queer community has a different context from the prevailing social heteronormative canons. The paintings in this exhibit reveal masculine forms depicting queer identity, kinks, and beauty.
Opening reception Friday, March 6, 2020, 8-10pm at Strut, 470 Castro St, San Francisco, California 94114.
My next curation project for Senator Scott Wiener’s office will open February 14th, 2020. “The Artist as Curator” will be an exhibit by twelve San Francisco Bay Area artists each curating a space on a diverse set of current topics and interests.
The artists curating include: Grey Dey, Paul Goldman, Paul Morin, Heidi Noriko, Tsungwei Moo, Sean O’Donnell, Joseph Abbati, Wendy Ackrell, John J Hartford, Johnny Botts, Carrington Arredondo, and Elaine T. Nguyen. In addition, these artists have also brought together additional artists including Mariya Milovidova, Christian Martin, Ben James, Alex Strysky, Ryan Johnson, Rafael SanHueza-Leni, Rachel Altman, Birthe Lauvdal, Misho, Deb Cook Shapiro, Daniel Becker, Manny Fabregas, and Katja Leibenath.
Opening Reception: February 14, 2020, 5-7pm
Senator Scott Weiner’s Office: 455 Golden Gate Ave., Suite 14800, State of California Building, San Francisco
Exhibition dates: February 14 – March 27, 2020
Please RSVP here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/artist-as-curator-tickets-90408623627
Each guest will need to RSVP because this is an after business hour event and the State of California building requires a name to enter.
“LARGER THAN LIFE,” a portrait series of San Francisco drag queens made into tapestries, is on view at San Francisco City Hall in the office of Supervisor Rafael Mandelman. The nine drag queens include Sister Roma, Juanita More!, Peaches Christ, Heklina, Honey Mahogany, Shelix, Turleen, Grace Towers, and Juicy Lui. A reception will be held on December 19th from 4-5:50pm in room 284.
I’ve co-curated the exhibit “Abstrax” with Radian Gallery featuring eleven Bay Area abstract artists. Abstrax features the talent of emerging and mid-career artists working in the Abstract Expressionist style, and whose collected works showcase how their exploration of this genre continues to deliver engaging and evocative creativity.
Contributing Artists: Ali Saif, Ann Phelan, Athena Kim, Cindy Jian, Kees van der Proojen, Olivia Kuo, Robert di Matteo, Tom O’Brien, Usha Shukla, Myke Reilly, and William Salit.
The exhibit will be up November 7 – December 31, 2019. Opening reception November 7th, 6-8pm.
Radian Gallery is located at 440 Brannan St., San Francisco, CA 94107.
These paintings come from the graphic studies I’ve been doing looking at the queer male figure combined with earlier forms from my “Amorfa” series to create a new narrative.
