Queer Nature

November 19th - December 23rd

Dallas Art Fair Project Space

150 Manufacturing St #214, Dallas, TX 75207

For information, please contact:
info@erincluley.com or holly@hollyjohnsongallery.com

[Dallas, Texas– November 11, 2022] - Contemporary Art Dealers of Dallas is pleased to announce Queer Nature, a solo exhibition by Dallas-based artist Ángel Faz. Faz was the recipient of the second annual CADD x Maddrey Artist Prize in 2021, winning a cash prize of $5,000 and a legal mentorship package from Thomas Maddrey. This exhibition marks the culmination of the award and will be on view from November 19 through December 23, 2022, at Dallas Art Fair Projects located at 150 Manufacturing St Suite 214, Dallas, TX. An opening reception will be held on November 19 from 5 - 8 PM, with the artist in attendance. Gallery hours are Wednesday through Friday from 12 to 5 PM or by appointment by contacting info@erincluley.com.

In Queer Nature, artist Ángel Faz explores kinship, intimacy, and animacy within our environment. By relating the human body and consciousness with bodies of land and water, the work questions complex societal perceptions of nature and our connection to it. This iteration of work expands upon Faz’s previous project of 2021, in which they explored the personification of the Arkikosa (also known as the Trinity River). Through audio samples from the stream and hand-drawn digital animation, the artist weaved the river’s history within an imagined first-person narrative.

Queer Nature draws inspiration from the land back movement and the groundbreaking book Queer Ecology by scholar Catriona Sandilands. The titular term “queer ecology” refers to a philosophy that views nature, biology, and sexuality through a queered lens – as existing outside of the rigid binaries and limitations that our society can impose on its inhabitants and surroundings.

What is considered “natural”, and why? Faz expands upon these philosophies by depicting queer bodies in nature and abstract representations of queerness as it relates to the environment. By doing so, the artist challenges the heterosexual and masculine dominant values often associated with the wilderness and reorients the viewers to a place of tenderness and kinship.

Embodied as a series of mixed media works, relief wood carvings, and installation in vivid color, Queer Nature is a journey celebrating polymorphous bodies, expressions, and pleasures. The immersive multi-media exhibition touches on themes of gender and intersectional ecofeminism and advocates the practice of unlearning to embrace indigenous ways of knowing.

The 2021 CADD x Maddrey Artist Prize was made possible through the generous support of our donors. Contemporary Art Dealers of Dallas would also like to thank our in-kind sponsors, Dallas Art Fair Projects and The Box Company, for providing the resources necessary to realize this exhibition.

For information, please contact: info@erincluley.com or holly@hollyjohnsongallery.com