12″x50″x1″; collage on canvas boards mounted on wood panel (acrylic, wood, paper, fabric, thread, Swarovski Crystals, rhinestones, beads, buttons, shells, sequins, photocopies); 2018. Courtesy of the artist.
COLLAGE ON VIEW
Julien Tomasello: The Secrets of Summer
at Strut in San Francisco, California, USA
1-25 November 2023
“The Secrets of Summer” is an ongoing series of collage-on-panel works. Each work possesses a narrative of “autobiographical fiction”. These narratives blend events, dreams, and desires Julien Tomasello experienced as an LGBTQ+ young person, during the 1980s and 1990s, with threads of fictions influenced by the books, music, films, television, and art they absorbed during this time. Escapism was a panacea to the isolation and fear they felt during their youth. The world around them seemed steeped in conformity, homophobia, and later, darkness as AIDS began its ravage of the LGBTQ+ community they hoped to become part and made the expression of love seem toxic.
Julien Tomasello studied visual art at Parsons School of Design in New York (BA), the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston (MFA), and the University of the Arts in Philadelphia (MAT). They live and work in the San Francisco Bay Area.
(text adapted from material provided by the artist and venue)
INFORMATION
Strut
470 Castro Street
San Francisco, California 94114 USA
(415) 581-1600
Hours:
Tuesday-Thursday, 10AM-7PM
Friday, 10AM-1PM; 3-7PM
Saturday, 10AM-7PM