Self Portrait as Patti is a painting by Devan Shimoyama in which Shimoyama portrays himself in drag as the “Godmother of Soul,” Patti LaBelle. Though LaBelle is famous for frequently evolving her always fabulous hairstyle, in this painting, Shimoyama chose to pay homage to the sculpted, geometric cut the legendary singer made famous in the 1980s, described in a 1986 interview with SPIN magazine as “art-deco hair swept up and back like the fanned wings of a condor.”

This painting is part of a series of self portraits in drag that Shimoyama painted for his solo exhibition A Counterfeit Gift Wrapped in Fire. Each work in the series portrays the artist donning the hairstyle of a beloved musician who influenced his own personal and professional evolution. In addition to LaBelle, the series also pays homage to Coi Leray, Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, Ronnie Spector, and Aaliyah.

The thematic framework of A Counterfeit Gift Wrapped in Fire had to do with transformation, and the difference between superficial and real change. In addition to paintings of himself in drag, the exhibition featured a series of paintings based on tarot cards and a series grounded in the transformation sequences from comics genres such as manga, among other works.

“We have this desire to present outwardly as contained and keeping it together,” Shimoyama says. “We think it’s a gift to say, ‘I’m fine.’ There’s a mimicry of something really desired, but it’s fake. There’s a danger to that kind of thing.”