“Untitled (Michael)” (2021), oil on canvas and fabric stretched on panel. 36 inches. Photo by Jason Mandella, courtesy of the artist and Perrotin
For Trevon Latin, the best use of questions is to breed more questions, a tenet of his practice that he speaks to in a new interview supported by Colossal Members. Each quilt remnant, each barrette, each string of beads he incorporates into the work asks, What does masculinity look like? What does it mean to present yourself as a Black person? What does intimacy look like? What does it mean to exist as a corporeal, analog self versus a digital self or a self mediated through a work of art? For Latin, there are no static answers to these questions.
I think my art is about regular folks. I mean not regular people but people that are just existing in these ways that I’m discussing. I’m talking about queerness, performance, body, Blackness. People out in the real world doing (stuff) and really trying to survive and exist. Those are the people I’m talking to.
In this conversation with Colossal contributor Paulette Beete, Latin explains why he’s only recently started referring to himself as an artist, his approach to fully feeling every emotion he encounters, and his whole-hearted belief that, to quote RuPaul, “we are all born naked, and the rest is drag.”
“Purple Love” (2020), oil on canvas, fabric, barrettes, pony beads, 5 x 4 feet. Image courtesy of the artist and Perrotin
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Source: Art - thisiscolossal.com
