Adrien Crossman
August 11 – September 30, 2023
Closing Reception & Publication Launch: Thursday, September 14 | 7PM
Please join us at for the closing reception of Adrien Crossman’s solo exhibition [now]here on Thursday, September 14 from 7-9pm. This is your opportunity to see the exhibition for extended gallery hours, meet the artist, and grab a limited print copy of the publication. The publication by Eli Nolet was created in reflection to the artworks within the exhibition and in response to interviews with the artist. This evening will also feature OPTICKS for a special Open Lab pop-up to encourage experimentation in installation art.
[now]here traverses time and space, existing at once ‘nowhere’ and ‘now here’. Combining physical and digital renderings of light up signage, the work references places both real and imaginary. Through memorializing imagined queer spaces that act as virtual stand ins for the ‘real’ gay bars we can no longer access, [now]here explores the intersection between fictionalized queer spaces in media, and the ghosts of many ‘real life’ queer bars past. Without having a fixed temporal state or particular location, these fictionalized spaces live on indefinitely, allowing us to visit them over and over again, while many of their ‘real’ counterparts become inaccessible. [now]here holds together a dreaming of queer utopia that rejoices in a holy love within queerness, while also recognizing the dystopic closure of so many vital places meant for queer life and love.
About the Artist:
Adrien Crossman is a queer and non-binary white settler artist, educator, and curator currently residing on the traditional territory of the Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe peoples in Hamilton, Ontario. They hold an MFA in Visual Art from the University of Windsor (2018), and a BFA in Integrated Media with a Minor in Digital and Media Studies from OCAD University (2012). Crossman is interested in the affective qualities of queerness, investigating how queerness can be felt through specific aesthetics and sensibilities. In addition to having exhibited across Canada and internationally, Adrien co-founded and co-runs the online arts publication Off Centre. Crossman is an Assistant Professor in the School of the Arts at McMaster University.
Crossman’s work is made possible through funding from the Ontario Arts Council.
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