RIDING OFF: The sunset for our 2021 AUTUMN INVITATIONAL is well past the horizon, but this show deserves a special Yippee Ki Yay (we'll stop right there) before we do the final round up. After all, our three artists piled up an eye-catching 26 SALES (!): 17 for RACHAEL MCLAUGHLIN, four for SIMONE BAILEY CAMPBELL and five (including this master work) for LEONARD HOLLINGER. For obvious reasons, we're signing off with this favorite iconography of Leonard's, which also marked his storied debut on the Wall, when he lassoed top honors in BRICK BY BRICK, our Stonewall at 50 celebration. It's undeniably powerful symbolism as the artist subverts an ultra-normative image of masculinity, nurtured in white-cisgender-male lore and mass-produced by Madison Avenue. "A lot of these pieces were created just for me as a form of therapy," Leonard shares. "So as you look at my art, keep in mind that you are looking at parts of me laid out before you — and just maybe they’ll speak to something inside of you as well." Perhaps the artist's message — equally relevant to his colleagues — is as simple as: don't fence me in.
LEONARD HOLLINGER
“Manufactured Masculinity”
silkscreen and acrylic on wood
550.
