Jo Ann Block
Queer B4 Queer

Opening Saturday September 26, 3-4pm pst with an artist talk
Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88084909753…
Password: 293694

“My reason in making this work was to explore the process of aging as a queer woman. One effect of aging is the loss of one’s sex appeal. Youthfulness and desirability in our society go hand-in-hand. Women have been socialized to maintain their appeal and relevance in society by their looks. As an older woman, I notice how younger people often now dismiss me when I’m across the counter from them in a store, for example. I’ve become invisible. Throughout my life I have contended with being marginalized as a queer. Aging is yet another added layer of this familiar marginality.

Queer B4 Queer, my latest project, examines the guts it takes to live one’s entire life outside the gendered margins. These intimate portraits of older butch lesbians put the aging queer body at the center. They are posed and clad in ways that lay bare the fierce determination that informs the contours of their lifelong queer existence; these are butch lesbians who in fact pioneered the gender queer present, who refuse to be invisible. My intention is to have others see what I see… fierce women who are still a force to be reckoned with even with physical signs of age.”

Jo Ann Block is a Los Angeles, CA based mixed media artist investigating queer history, sexuality and identity as they are inscribed within historical and contemporary culture. She received her B.F.A. from UCLA, and M.F.A. from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She held a fellowship with Touchstone Gallery (DC), and two summer residencies at SVA in NY. Her work has been exhibited at Leslie Lohman Project Space (NY), American University Museum (DC), Transformer Gallery (DC) Williamsburg Art and Historical Center (NY) Metrospace (MI), Baum Gallery of Fine Art (AK), Thompson Gallery (MA) and Ventura College Art Gallery (CA).

Charlie, 2019
90” X 40”
Paper collage, gesso
$4,000.00 For inquiries, contact shoeboxprojectsla@gmail.com

Krash, 2019
90” X 40”, Paper collage, gesso
$4,000.00 (For inquiries, contact shoeboxprojectsla@gmail.com)

Mad Dog, 2019
90” X 40”, Paper collage, gesso
$4,000.00 (For inquiries, contact shoeboxprojectsla@gmail.com)

Mr. Block
90” X 40”, Paper collage, gesso
$4,000.00 (For inquiries, contact shoeboxprojectsla@gmail.com)

Smitty, 2019
90” X 40”, Paper collage, gesso
$4,000.00 (For inquiries, contact shoeboxprojectsla@gmail.com)

Tiffany, 2019
90” X 40”, Paper collage, gesso
$4,000.00 (For inquiries, contact shoeboxprojectsla@gmail.com)