In a set of encaustics and prints, artist Ethan Lauesen explores the perceptions of gender and LGBTQIA+ identity in regions like Interior Alaska. The work both documents and serves as a personal expression of those themes, also enveloping race and sexuality in this sprawling visual statement. Lauesen often shares looks into the process behind these works on their Instagram account.
“The core themes of the exhibition are community, intersectionality, and identity acceptance,” a statement says. “The premise behind the figurative distortions and body horror is to create an effect of emotional transference that alludes to the experience of identity rejection. The concept of a repose from doubt is fulfilled through an emphasis on a strong sense of place and the activities, routines, and culture that is associated with city and rural scapes that they reference, places that tend to resonate with their own conscience and memory.”
See more of these works below.
In Jesse Shaw’s “American Epic” series of hand-pulled linocut prints, the artist offers his interpretation of the American story, traversing consumerism, ritualism, technology, and other aspects in massive graphical works. So far, he’s completed more than half of the planned 50 prints in the series.