Opening Reception, Devan Shimoyama: SHIFT

Devan Shimoyama draws equally from classical mythology and the cultural landscape of his youth to create works that center the queer Black male form. Through self-portraiture and tableaux, he reflects on the politics of queer experience while navigating his own personal narrative.

Working across a wide range of materials and techniques, Shimoyama explores the tension between celebration and silence within queer culture and sexuality. Referencing the dramatic sensibilities of painters such as Caravaggio and Goya, he layers his surfaces with jewels,  glitter, rhinestones, and sequins to evoke both the beauty and alienation of the Black queer body. His most recent body of work is inspired by the Major Arcana of the Tarot card deck. The series reflects on our desire to present contained and perfect versions of ourselves, while suggesting how forms of mysticism, such as tarot reading, can illuminate new pathways through turbulent times.

Shimoyama graduated from Penn State University with a BFA in Drawing/Painting. He received his MFA from Yale University School of Art in Painting/Printmaking. Shimoyama’s work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States and internationally including the Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA, the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO, the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, Cape Town, South Africa, FRONT International Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art, Cleveland, OH, the Kunstpalais, Erlangen, Germany. He lives and works in Pittsburgh, PA and is represented by De Buck Gallery in New York City.