Damon Arhos
I create artworks that examine perceptions of gender and sexuality while referencing popular culture. My creative practice explores how people judge the characteristics that define gender, how they perceive one another’s sexual identities, and how they describe related social phenomena given their beliefs. Through my work, I seek to reveal these circumstances as tailored constructions of confidence, faith, or trust.
My practice is interdisciplinary. I employ drawing, painting, collage, sculpture, installation, video, and other traditional and digital media as means of expression. The subject matter is socially motivated, and employs repetition, appropriation, and everyday situations to explore multifaceted concepts. I often incorporate images and objects that have distinct connections to my personal history and that reference queer culture.
As I design and produce each series, I seek to present a visible, understandable narrative alongside one that is more complicated and indistinct. In this way, I mirror the complexity of interactions among many and summon the limitations of our own values and assumptions. I am an advocate for dignity and equality. I hope to bring people together in the spirit of love and mutual respect.
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Damon Arhos is an artist and educator from Texas who lives and works in Washington, DC and Louisville, Kentucky. By examining social contexts of gender and sexuality, he accesses and reflects queer culture with his work. Arhos earned an MFA in Studio Art from Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in Baltimore. An Assistant Professor of Art at Kentucky College of Art + Design (KyCAD) in Louisville, he is represented by Catalyst Contemporary in Baltimore.
