Mark Epstein will discuss his work, O to be marked reciprocally, currently on display at the Handwerker Gallery.
Epstein’s work asks questions about the visual culture associated with gayness. Discordant combinations of hues, marks, and patterns are layered, interrupted, and obfuscated until finally forced into crooked and irregular polygonal frames. Works on paper establish and then seem to drift from or defy their own microcosmic systems of logic. Exploring the overlapping politics of taste, pleasure, aesthetics, and symbolism, the works eschew expectations of their tradition, their painted surfaces slipping out of any legible lexicon.
Epstein’s works refuse to operate within contemporary expectations of LGBTQ visual culture makers. His objects are unsolvable puzzles—they avoid easily explaining themselves to a heteronormative audience. Epstein asks for a slower and deeper read than is afforded to much gay visual culture today. By drawing out the viewer’s engagement, Epstein’s work opens up new ways of thinking about how a gay experience might manifest in the visual. Hung on the wall, objects transform into intimate places to which we are invited, but not expressly pampered. Installed in the transformed color-blocked gallery, these works cannot be leveled, requiring the head-tilted viewer to adjust their perspective, expectations, and approach.
All exhibitions and events at the Handwerker Gallery are free and open to the public. The Handwerker Gallery is open Monday, Wednesday, & Friday from 10am-6pm; Thursdays from 10am-9pm; and Saturday & Sunday from 12pm-5pm. Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations should contact Mara Baldwin at mbaldwin@ithaca.edu or (607) 274-3548. We ask that requests for accommodations be made as soon as possible.