Devan Shimoyama USA, b. 1989
Untitled (For Tamir), 2019
Chains, silk flowers, rhinestones, beads, and fabric on swing seats, industrial steel swingset, mirrored plexi platform, and wood
96 x 82 x 158 in
243.8 x 208.3 x 401.3 cm
243.8 x 208.3 x 401.3 cm
7112
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Tamir Rice was a 12-year old African-American boy shot by 26-year-old police officer Timothy Loehmann while playing in a park in Cleveland Ohio on 22 November 2014. Devan Shimoyama's Untitled...
Tamir Rice was a 12-year old African-American boy shot by 26-year-old police officer Timothy Loehmann while playing in a park in Cleveland Ohio on 22 November 2014. Devan Shimoyama's Untitled (For Tamir) is part memorial and part dreamlike celebration—an acknowledgement of sadness and simultaneous reclamation of Tamir's stolen innocence.
Artist Background:
Devan Shimoyama (b. 1989, US) is a visual artist whose work explores depictions of the black, queer, male body. Through the medias of painting, sculpture, printmaking and installation, he creates compositions inspired by classical painters such as Francisco Goya, or Caravaggio. However, Shimoyama's use of materials is distinctly contemporary, as is the subject matter he depicts. He has stated that he wants the figures in his work to be perceived as “both desirable and desirous.” He is aware of the politics of queer culture, and the ways in which those politics relate to black American culture. These elements come together in his works in a way that is both celebratory and complicated.
The celebratory aspects come through in his choice of materials, such as fur, feathers, glitter and costume jewels like rhinestones, and sequins. These materials endow the figures in the works with a sort of magical aura and joyful spirit. Yet, many of the men in Shimoyama’s works also literally have jewels in their eyes, giving them a mystified expression, interrupting the connection between their inner selves and the viewer, and suggesting a sort of silent suffering. Many also shed tears.
Artist Background:
Devan Shimoyama (b. 1989, US) is a visual artist whose work explores depictions of the black, queer, male body. Through the medias of painting, sculpture, printmaking and installation, he creates compositions inspired by classical painters such as Francisco Goya, or Caravaggio. However, Shimoyama's use of materials is distinctly contemporary, as is the subject matter he depicts. He has stated that he wants the figures in his work to be perceived as “both desirable and desirous.” He is aware of the politics of queer culture, and the ways in which those politics relate to black American culture. These elements come together in his works in a way that is both celebratory and complicated.
The celebratory aspects come through in his choice of materials, such as fur, feathers, glitter and costume jewels like rhinestones, and sequins. These materials endow the figures in the works with a sort of magical aura and joyful spirit. Yet, many of the men in Shimoyama’s works also literally have jewels in their eyes, giving them a mystified expression, interrupting the connection between their inner selves and the viewer, and suggesting a sort of silent suffering. Many also shed tears.
Provenance
The Artist Studio, Pittsburgh, PAKavi Gupta, Chicago, IL
Exhibitions
Devan Shimoyama, We Named Her Gladys, 2019, Kavi Gupta | Washington Blvd, Chicago, IL, USAQueer/Dialogue, 2021, Grinnell College Museum of Art, Grinnell, IA, USA