Portrait of Michaela Yearwood-Dan and Elle Stanford. Courtesy of the couple.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Artists have always relied on love. Like water in the desert, a romantic relationship can be a source of inspiration and a way to explore oneself through a new pair of eyes. For queer artists, this bond between the artist and their loved ones has given rise to some of the most iconic works of art. sleep<\/em> (1964), a five-hour video by Andy Warhol about his lover John Giorno, and a dreamy clip by Isaac Julien about the life and loves of Langston Hughes Finding Lanston<\/em> (1991), queer artists have long viewed these connections as spaces for artistic experimentation. <\/p>\nYet, queer love has been one of the most politicized and stigmatized forms of self-expression, still subject to intense scrutiny and even violence. In a spirit of resilience, many LGBTQ+ artists have incorporated their physical and emotional desires into the core of their work. From disarming portraits to silent sculptures, many works of art, both delightful and frustrating, are the product of queer artists\u2019 relationships. <\/p>\n
Artsy spoke with five queer couples about capturing the power of romantic love, the bonds that allow them to overcome challenges in the industry, and the inspiration they find in each other.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Portrait of Gray Vilebinski and Asa Seresin. Photo by Ruby Seresin. Courtesy of the couple.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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When Gray Willebinski booked the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London as the venue for his wedding to his partner, Asa Seresin, he didn\u2019t expect to receive another email from the institution\u2019s curators soon after: an invitation to participate in his first institutional exhibition, \u201cRed Sun High, Blue Sun Low.\u201d The wedding ended up taking place at the venue to coincide with the exhibition, and the couple had their wedding photos taken in front of his multimedia artwork. <\/p>\n
Willebinski and Seresin met three years ago on a dating app. That first date turned into a multi-day romance that caused Seresin, a doctoral student at the University of Pennsylvania studying gender, particularly heterosexuality, to postpone her flight twice. The moment was pivotal for Willebinski, who had just turned 30, had breast surgery and was having his first solo gallery show at Hales Gallery in London. \u201cWe fell in love very quickly,\u201d Willebinski recalls. <\/p>\n
The pair\u2019s love and professional lives began to overlap early on, when Seresin wrote an essay for the group show \u201cMotherboy,\u201d which Willebinski is organizing with curator Stella Botet at Milan\u2019s gallery Gi\u00f3 Marconi in 2023. They explain that despite their different practices\u2014Wilebinski focuses on representations of masculinity in his multimedia artworks, while Seresin examines our complex relationship with desire\u2014their ideas often converge around language. \u201cOur shared interest in self-expression helps me solidify my vision and helps me translate my concerns into a language,\u201d says Willebinski. \u201cI really appreciate that we both have a childlike love for an idea, and maybe a little obsession.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Portrait of Michaela Yearwood-Dan and Al Stanford. Photo courtesy of the couple <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The pandemic was the starting point for the relationship between London-based painter and sculptor Michala Yearwood-Dan and Elle Stanford. The couple first chatted on an app in December 2019, two months after Stanford, who was the culture editor of The New York Times, met her. New York Times<\/em>moved from New York to London. The following month, their first face-to-face meeting quickly turned into a meeting zigzagging through London’s empty streets. <\/p>\n\u201cWe immediately bore witness to each other\u2019s most vulnerable moments and rawest feelings, which allowed our relationship to progress much faster than it normally would,\u201d Stanford says. A journalist who studied art history \u201cvirtually\u201d in college, she was immediately impressed by Yearwood-Dan\u2019s studio practice. When they met, the painter had just had her first solo gallery show at Tiwani Contemporary, the first time she was able to make a living from her mesmerizing, twisted botanical paintings. \u201cSeeing works in progress together and visiting museums opened my eyes to the layers of creative abstraction,\u201d Stanford says of her partner\u2019s work. <\/p>\n
For Yearwood-Dan, the relationship has supported a formative period in her career. In October 2020, Marianne Boesky Gallery reached out to the painter on Instagram, expressing interest in a Zoom studio visit, leading to a small showing in the Chelsea gallery\u2019s Project Room in 2021. A larger exhibition in the main space followed in 2023. \u201cI\u2019m lucky to be able to develop my practice in a loving place where late night studio times and sometimes prioritizing our careers are understandable,\u201d Yearwood-Dan adds, who credits their relationship for making her \u201cmore energized about what needs to be accomplished.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Portrait of Anthony Cudahy and Ian Lewandowski. Photo by Beno\u00eet Porcher. Courtesy of the couple.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Anthony Cudahy and Ian Lewandowski first met 11 years ago, in a move typical of the New York art world in the 2010s: They collaborated on a zine. Cudahy invited Lewandowski to publish his photos in the biweekly publication where he worked, and the two began dating and eventually married, with a dog. The painter and photographer now work in adjacent studios, steps from their Brooklyn apartment. \u201cWe\u2019ve always worked in a similar way, not only in space but also in subject matter,\u201d says Lewandowski, whose photographic portraits\u2014depicting queer elders, friends, or himself\u2014are currently on view in solo shows \u201cReflectors\u201d at No Place in Columbus, Ohio, and \u201cOnce, Once Again\u201d at the Aurora Center for Photography in Indianapolis. <\/p>\n
Both artists capture forms of queer intimacy with ambiguous emotional themes, and they appear in each other\u2019s work, sometimes even looking identical. Cudahy\u2019s melancholic paintings depict distorted interiors in hazy tones, with figures\u2014both anonymous and signed\u2014inhabiting these malleable spaces. Following last year\u2019s joint exhibition of Cudahy at the two galleries\u2019 London spaces, the artist will have solo shows at Hales and GRIMM in New York this fall.<\/p>\n
Ten years ago, the couple embarked on the unpredictable journey of being queer artists together, which was a challenge. \u201cWe didn\u2019t know what our careers would look like,\u201d Lewandowski said. \u201cWhen you have no foundation for the future, it\u2019s inspiring to have another person who has been through a similar phase and is madly hungry for the same thing.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Portrait of Hilary Harkness and Alla Tucker. Photo by Alla Tucker. Image courtesy of the couple<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Painter Hilary Harkness and writer Ara Tucker started dating on April Fools\u2019 Day in 2013, but it wasn\u2019t long before their relationship became serious. The two met over their shared love of racquet sports, and since then, they have intertwined not only their love lives, but their work lives as well. For example, Harkness created the cover art for Tucker\u2019s 2022 collection of surrealist comedic short stories, How to cultivate art stars<\/em>Instead, Harkness also incorporates Tucker\u2019s image (who has appeared in war scenes or as a model for Josephine Baker) into her paintings, provocatively rewriting the stories of historically abused female characters. Initiative and curiosity are among the ambitions effortlessly determined by her heroines. Warriors, nobles, rebels and sensual creatures, they take their true place in the stories of yesteryear as portrayed in Harkness\u2019s brisk gestures. <\/p>\nIn 2018, Harkness decided to create a new version of Winslow Homer’s 1866 work after returning home from his first day working on the Met’s reproduction project. Prisoners of war from the front<\/em>but painted the soldiers black. This became the \u201cArabella Freeman\u201d series, named after the fictional free black woman from history, and is on view in Harkness\u2019s recent solo exhibition at PPOW, \u201cFront Line Prisoners,\u201d her first in a decade. <\/p>\nTucker occasionally takes over the painter\u2019s Instagram account, and Harkness takes objects (like skulls) from her partner\u2019s writing studio to make her paintings, and the couple has fostered an organic form of creative exchange. \u201cAs a gay couple, we try to demystify things and allow other people to work with us, rather than shut the door behind us,\u201d Tucker said. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Sarah Thornton and Jessica Silverman pose with their family. Photo by Daniel Hebert. Provided by the couple.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Art fairs are hardly the best place to fall in love at first sight. Yet at the 2011 Frieze Art Fair in London, art dealer Jessica Silverman and critic Sarah Thornton were rewarded with a slew of rave reviews. Silverman\u2019s booth, which featured a solo show by queer German artist Susanna M. Winterling, was \u201cone of only two good booths at the fair,\u201d Thornton said. Their tastes had always coincided: After the critic wandered into a mixed-media installation, she realized that the then-emerging Jessica Silverman Gallery also represented Tammy Rae Karan, whose photographic series \u201cLesbian Beds\u201d was one of the highlights of her Istanbul Biennial that year. <\/p>\n
Thirteen years later, the couple lives in San Francisco, where Silverman has grown her eponymous business into a Bay Area giant. Thornton published a book in 2008, Seven Days in the Art World<\/em> is a classic in the contemporary art market and recently released her latest work. Breasts Up: What Sex Workers, Milk Bankers, Plastic Surgeons, Bra Designers, and Witches Tell Us About Breasts<\/em>The book also documents Silverman\u2019s journey to breastfeed their baby, Echo. \u201cWatching Jessica give birth and breastfeed was a big influence on the structure of the book,\u201d Thornton said. Silkscreen prints from Roy Hollowell\u2019s (Silverman\u2019s representative) \u201cMilk Fountain\u201d series, which depict an abstract hallucination of a fountain of white liquid overflowing, serve as illustrations for this chapter. <\/p>\nWhile the two seem worlds apart, the influential critic and trendsetting dealer offer each other new perspectives. \u201cI\u2019m a listener\u2014I hear everything, but now I understand more about how artists live and sell,\u201d Thornton explains. When Silverman signed Judy Chicago to the gallery a few years ago, Thornton was her biggest supporter. \u201cJessica is more adventurous than most dealers,\u201d she adds. \u201cWe are feminists, and diversity is a driver of the show.\u201d <\/p>\n
Ten years on from that first Frieze meeting, the couple\u2019s tastes have become harmonious. \u201cWe agreed very quickly on the best paintings for the room,\u201d Thornton says. \u201cJessica\u2019s eye is more adventurous than my conservative viewpoint\u2014I need to see the next batch of works.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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