CHRISTIAN ROGERS
Christian Rogers (born 1986, Portland, Oregon) uses paint, collage, and sculpted surfaces to explore themes of unabashed queer love, lust, and joy. Half grounded in reality, the other half in fantasy, Christian depicts Garden of Eden-like landscapes where endless visual and visceral titillation take place. Men wander the vast floral playground looking for fun, taking part in the liberation and the nitrite rush of queer romance. Sculpted forms bubble from the surface, resembling the curves of a pectoral muscle or chiseled bicep, and over the bodily shapes, layers of fluorescent paint function like skin. The collaged men in the paintings are found objects sourced from vintage porn, included in the mise en scène as a means of preserving our collective queer history. While being vessels of desire, the men represent a way of remembering and memorializing our forefathers who came before us—many of whom lost their lives to HIV/AIDS during the height of the crisis. Christian’s paintings are at once an incandescent manifestation of queer bliss, an act of historical reclamation, and an illustration of the erotic utopia of which he dreams.
Christian was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. He received his BFA from Western Oregon University and his Master’s from Hunter College in New York City. Christian has been living and working in Los Angeles since 2017.
