April 20 through May 25, 2019
Opening Reception: Saturday, April 20, 7-10PM
With his debut solo exhibit here in the United States, Mexican artist Maximiliano Navarrete addresses the myriad facets of peripheral sexualities, gender identity, and new masculinities through his explicit (and highly arousing) homoerotic illustrations. In the series, Memorias del Campo (Field Memories), Navarrete presents several of his own sexual encounters, which have left their indelible impressions on his life.
“I was born in Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán…but I grew up in five [different] places that [have] marked my life: La Paz, Baja California; Hermosillo, Sonora; El Fuerte, Sinaloa; Nueva Italia, Michoacán; and Guerrero. Each [place] with properties in their environment that have inspired me at a natural level, have been contributing elements to my work,” says Navarrete (25). “Because of the constant movement that I lived as a child, I never managed to create connections with my surroundings or create a firm root in any of these places, which [resulted in] a feeling of isolation that, over time, made me define myself as a stranger in search of a home, [with a] childhood [that] has marked my work in many ways since the isolation and development of [my] sexuality. [And], at the same time… a feeling of constant detachment.”
From his first threesome to an anonymous encounter outside in an overgrown field, Navarrete presents each moment with care and tenderness combined with a level of uncertainty. In the dozen ink-on-paper and ink-on-vellum drawings, you’ll sense the tension, the thrill, and the rush of adrenaline that can overcome you when experiencing the possibility of sex (and release) when living in a culture that seems to celebrate machismo, yet views homosexuality as subversive.
“In every place where I was, the man was always something that leapt before me: his absence, his presence, his form, for me for a long time the figure of man cost me a great conflict so much that he did not even assume me as one…[and I] always looked for the female figure, never drew men, although I thought so much [about] them in a lascivious and martyred way,[yet] I did not dare to show it on paper because of so much unfounded guilt…and it seemed so sad to destroy my own attempts that I gave up for many years,” says Navarrete”
Memorias del Campois a sort of “Coming Out” party for Navarrete. Each work in this series – which were kept hidden for so long – gives the artist an opportunity to fully announce his own “coming-of-age” experience, while offering viewers an intimate look at deeply personal moments, including those he shares with his boyfriend Tsade, that are sensual, erotic, and dark.
“My most direct reference is the kids of all these rural areas where I grew up that were so exposed to a lifestyle that [were] promised everything at the cost of assuming a very short life. For me there is a very strong attraction in this profile of young people without much life expectancy but with a very strong intensity to live the day to day,” says Navarrete. “In recent years, I have reflected on human nature in those contexts that I grew up in. The beauty of [the] land and [sic] the blood with which it is watered…we are influenced by sociocultural ideals: consumption, power, success, submission, violence, drugs, play, superstition, family and even fetishize the taste for cruelty.”
Through the art-making process, Navarrete is able to work through the challenges of these experiences.
As a result, he’s come to embrace his own sexual desires, while also illustrating a facet of queer subculture that is oftentimes hyper-glamorized or rarely spoken of.
“[The artworks] in this series [represent] several of my sexual encounters…and I would like to share them because, for me, the mere fact of being able to [illustrate them] so freely gives [me great] peace,” concludes Navarrete. “I know I am no longer afraid of my own desires and that I survived some of them and gives me the assurance that it is a very sincere part of me that I can see on paper even when it comes to portraits of guys that represented some risk to me.
Maximiliano Navarrete’s (Mexico, b. 1994) illustrations address the myriad facets of peripheral sexualities, gender identity, and new masculinities through the focus of homoeroticism. In his work, the artist speaks to the dangerous appeal of searching and longing for acceptance and love in the rural environs of Michoacán, Mexico. Parks, river banks, and beaches become backdrops to a deeper, darker, and seedier reality of queer youth surviving the exodus from their homes children on a daily basis.
