Caption: Arrival of the exhibition catalogs for "Standing on the Shoulders of Queer Martyrs and Saints," published by Lichtundfire Press, 2019. Email me please at cs@christopherstout.com if you would like to receive a PDF copy of this exhibition catalog.
 
 

My name is Christopher Stout (pronouns: he/him/they) and I am a Queer abstract (reductivist) painter, formulating conversations surrounding the notions of radical joy and a vision of Queerness as found in our imaginations.

I would suggest that Queer abstraction might be most easily defined as activist art about the Queer experience that does not employ representation of the human figure. Queer abstraction, along with Black abstraction, Feminist abstraction, and even Arte Povera are 4 distinct types of sociopolitical protest work birthed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, which primarily eschew the use of figuration.

In providing additional context, art critic and curator Eric Sutphin theorizes that contemporary artists practicing Queer abstraction, “are in close dialogue with their forbears, and bring to the milieu of Queer abstraction a new set of social, economic, and political concerns…including a series of questions: What is the relationship between Queerness and formalism? Without explicit political references, how can abstract work transmit the urgency of its content?”

A primary aim within my work is an investigation of a specific environment in which the painting references would deploy markers of both Queerness, and also the nature of sociopolitical abstraction. Within the work is a conference between the questions of, “what is the construct of painting?” and “what is the construct of sculpture?” Visually, my work contains a distinct goal concerning the additive outcome in merging the vocabularies of both disciplines. This is also a reference to the nonbinary.

 
 

I am pleased to share this artist film talk, released as part of the group exhibition, "Gay Guerrilla" curated by M. Charlene Stevens, Founder of Arcade Project Curatorial, June 2020. I believe many of the points raised in this video are also helpful in more easily understanding my work.

 
 
Image Caption: Detail of work from COME OUT 2 SHOW THEM, a solo exhibited at Lichtundfire in April 2017.
 
 
Image Caption: Detail of work from A.O., a solo exhibited at Art Helix Gallery in April 2015.
 
 
Image Caption: Detail of work from SONIC OPERA, a solo exhibited at Lichtundfire in May of 2018.