Devan Shimoyama: A Closer Look

VETA by Fer Francés is pleased to present A Closer Look, the first exhibition of Devan Shimoyama (USA, 1989) at the gallery. Shimoyama is one of the most unique artists on the American scene today. His work explores themes related to queer, gender identity and race. Drawing on a wide range of references, including classical mythology, popular culture, mass media, anime, and the European painting tradition, Shimoyama depicts the queer black male body as both object and subject of desire. At the same time, he explores the mystical in the process of understanding its origins and investigating the politics of queer culture.

A Closer Look includes works from the Tarot series, a sculpture from the Hoodie series, and his most recent works. In the Tarot series, Shimoyama reinterprets two decks of cards: the Tarot de Marseille, dating from the 15th century, and the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot, from the early 20th century. This material, mixed with elements of pop culture and anime, is re-examined through the artist's own experience. By identifying with the transformative possibilities and allegories provided by the cards, Shimoyama establishes an ambiguous dialogue, somewhere between superficial and deeply honest, about individual and social interactions and, in particular, about purely human desire. Both its external representation in the form of contained and perfect samples and, on the other hand, its inner and visceral character, find in certain mysticisms available in these times, such as the tarot, their possible reading tool.

Shimoyama's sculptural works often commemorate the most public aspects of black suffering. The present piece in the exhibition, from his Hoodie series, pays homage to black victims of police brutality. These "hoodies" arise from a combination of sources: the tragic end of Trayvon Martin, who died after being shot by a George Zimmerman, a neighbourhood watch coordinator for the gated community where Martin was visiting some relatives; the "no hoodies" signs that are present in many Philadelphia schools; and the way black men were portrayed in the media.

Also present in the exhibition is a series of portraits of faces in the foreground that overflow the frame of the canvas, as if they had been zoomed in, inviting us to take a closer look. In the manner of comic vignettes, the gazes are intensified and at the same time give rise to further speculation about the profound relationship between the characters, which we know to be fictitious but which we find to be truthful.

Always from a body of work that challenges cliché with bold and personal representations about the complexities of race and sexuality, Shimoyama proposes alternatives to reality. Through his choice of materials, colors and forms he creates a fiction between elegant and decadent that allows him to explore both the celebration and silence present in African American queer culture.

Shimoyama's work has recently been exhibited individually at the CAC in Malaga in the exhibition Tell Me. In addition to it, other solo exhibitions at institutions such as The Rockwell Museum, New York, 2023; Katzen Arts Center, Washington DC, 2022; Kunstpalais Erlangen, Germany, 2021 or Andy Warhol Museum, New York, 2018. He has also participated in group exhibitions in museums such as Baltimore Museum of Art, Albright Knox, Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, Museum of Arts and Design in New York or Schlossmuseum in Linz. His work is part of public collections in institutions such as The Rockwell Museum, Corning, New York, USA; Brooklyn Museum, New York, New York, USA; Pérez Museum of Art, Miami, Florida, USA; Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio, USA.