My work serves as a way for me to process my formative experiences, reimagining them into queer allegories. I treat my work as a continuous narrative and a practice of world- building that I have been developing for seven years. Through this world-building, I create scenes of animated objects and flamboyant bodies that form a framework for themes of humility, longing, and desire.
My paintings frequently appropriate compositions from art history, referencing the vast history of the male body in religious paintings. I subvert these references to create tension between spirituality and sexuality. I often borrow from scenes such as The Adoration, Lamentation, and Enlightenment in an attempt to reinforce the inherent queerness of these subjects.
The figure I depict often reflects aspects of my partner’s likeness merging with my own, creating an avatar that I use as a conduit to navigate these scenes. With the combining of bodies, there is always an underpinning of tenderness and empathy that runs through each work. Through oil painting, I employ heavy glazing, chromatic color, and highly contrasted value to heighten the emotive resonance of each composition. The interplay of color, light, and my script-like line, reinforce the precarity of seriousness and absurdity in each image.
Gabe Cortese (b. 1994 in Key West, Florida) received his BFA in 2017 and his MFA in 2021 from the University of Central Florida. Recent solo exhibitions include Soft Spot, G/art/en Gallery, Como, Italy and Nothing Good Happens at Night, M+B, Los Angeles, CA. Recent group exhibitions include Fluid Suns and Vitamin C, G/art/en Gallery, Italy; Lost in a Spectacle, Woaw Gallery, China; and Slow Songs, Quappi Projects, Louisville, KY. His work is also in the collection at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami; the Orlando Museum of Art; X Museum; and the Tom of Finland Foundation. Gabe Cortese lives and works in Providence, Rhode Island. Cortese is currently represented by M+B Los Angeles.