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Kavi Gupta is pleased to offer for sale a limited artist’s edition of handmade, cotton masks by Devan Shimoyama. Proceeds from the sale of these masks will be donated to the COVID-19 African American Relief Fund, created by the Cook County Black Chamber of Commerce to assist members of marginalized communities suffering from the spread of COVID-19. The fund allocates its resources to three areas of relief: grants for small, Black businesses; providing fresh produce for seniors and families with children; and giving to local hospitals and first responders.
Masks are now available for preorder. Completing the preorder reserves a Devan Shimoyama mask, made by the artist in a limited edition of 100. Two fabric choices are available; tie dye and studded black. The tie-dye mask will feature embroidered teardrops with pink accents and rhinestones, and the studded black mask will feature metallic gold pyramid studs. Masks will ship in 2-3 weeks.
For questions contact the gallery at covidsupport@kavigupta.com.
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"The point of this initiative is is to engage with communities, to provide them with a little more information. People I grew up with, neighborhoods in Philadelphia where Black communities reside predominantly, those communities are suffering in different ways and at an exponentially higher rate. Making a mask and sending it to hospital misses this opportunity of actually engaging with the public in some capacity. That kind of forward-facing communication with people is really significant in this time, to see public figures actively doing something and giving back in some way, and not just talking about these things through a painting, which sometimes can feel like a passive way of discussing an urgent issue." - Devan Shimoyama
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Devan Shimoyama (b. 1989) is a visual artist whose work explores depictions of the black, queer, male body. Though he sometimes employs a variety of other mediums, Shimoyama primarily focuses on painting, specifically the genre of portraiture. His compositions are inspired by those of classical painters of the past, such as Francisco Goya, or Caravaggio. However, his use of materials is distinctly contemporary, as is the particular subject matter he depicts.
Shimoyama has stated that he wants the figures in his work are 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 of Shimoyama’s work come through in his choice of materials. Employing such things as faux fur, feathers, glitter and costume jewels like rhinestones, and sequins, he brings shine and dimensionality to his surfaces. These materials add to the sense that the figures in the works possess a sort of magical aura, and joyful spirit.Yet, so many of the men in Shimoyama’s works also literally have jewels in their eyes, endowing them with a mystified, often vacant expression, interrupting the connection between their inner selves and the viewer, and suggesting a sort of silent suffering. Many are also shedding tears.
Shimoyama was awarded the Al Held Fellowship at the Yale School of Art in 2013 and has had a residency at the 2015 Fire Island Artist Residency. His work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States. His recent exhibition Cry, Baby was presented at the Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh from October 13, 2018 – March 17, 2019. In this exhibition, new and existing works by Shimoyama’s work were juxtaposed along with a rotating selection of Warhol’s Ladies and Gentlemen paintings from the 1970s. This juxtaposition offers a unique opportunity not only to interrogate the conversation between these two artists’ work, but also to consider generational evolutions in the realm of how issues related to gender, sexuality, race and violence are portrayed in contemporary art.
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Art in Lockdown: Devan Shimoyama
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