The Void is a Field of Flowers
The Void is a Field of Flowers tackles the feeling of existing in “the void” through a queer angle. Mahan contemplates the voids of body dysmorphia, stereotype, and societal isolation. How do we find joy in these experiences?
This exhibition partners solitary abstracted figures with floral still life paintings representative of a community. These pairings complicate our view of the void, meditating on the congruence of isolation and joy experienced as an individual and in a community. How do we be mindful of the void in these spaces, while also finding beauty within them
Mahan’s research considers Jennifer Doyle and David Getsy’s queer formalist “concern [for] how desire, the sexual, and the gendered operate beyond their straightforward depictions”. Utilizing abstraction in mark making and material play, these moving parts bounce between being individual and communal.
Through these pairings, Mahan questions when and why is the void seen as dark and existential, why can’t it also be beautiful like a field of flowers?
Elevating the Queer Body
Elevating the Queer Body questions perspectives of the human figure through painting. Specifically targeting the male gaze and objectification, Mahan uses this exhibition to overcome unethical simplification of the figure by employing abstraction. These ambiguous paintings encourage viewers to question how to visually consume the physical bodies of others.
