Painters Christina Quarles and Jenna Gribbon join curator and host Gemma Rolls-Bentley in discussing their methods for constructing queerness in their lives and artworks, the importance of holding a viewers gaze, lesbian intensity, and CAMP! This episodes title is a line from “School Note,” a poem by Audre Lorde.

Jenna Gribbon’s oil paintings constitute an important new entry in the long lineage of figurative art, extending its narrative possibilities to explore the act of looking. Her vivid portraits, frequently nudes or partial nudes, depict those closest to her, and sometimes the artist herself, in candid poses, during uncanny moments. Her recent work most prominently features her partner, Mackenzie Scott, whose recurrence both personalizes and simultaneously establishes her as a kind of avatar; shifting the focus of the painting away from the figure and toward the way the figure is framed. By painting otherwise fleeting scenes, the artist adds texture, depth, and a sense of permanency to these temporal images, highlighting themes of pleasure, joy, and expanding the lexicon of queer iconography. Recent exhibitions include Living Histories: Queer Views and Old Masters, The Frick Collection, New York (2022); and I will wear you in my heart of heart, FLAG Art Foundation, New York (2021); and Paint, also known as Blood: Women, Affect and Desire in Contemporary Painting, Warsaw Museum of Modern Art, Poland (2019). Find her on IG @jennagribbon.

Christina Quarles lives and works in Los Angeles. She received an M.F.A. from the Yale School of Art in 2016 and holds a B.A. from Hampshire College. Quarles was a 2016 participant at the Skowhegan School for Painting and Sculpture. She was the inaugural recipient of the 2019 Pérez Art Museum Miami Prize and in 2017 she received the Rema Hort Mann Foundation Emerging Artist Grant. In 2021 Quarles joined the board of trustees of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Learn more about her practice at www.christinaquarles.com. Find her on IG @cequarles.

Christina's work in the exhibition, Tilt/Shift, is acrylic on canvas, see the work here.

Jenna's works, Me looking at her looking at me, and To share a common memory, are two of three pieces in the exhibition.

A full transcript of the episode is available here.

This podcast series is produced by the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art. Dreaming of Home is on view September 7–January 7, 2024. Learn more about the show at leslielohman.org/exhibitions/dreaming-of-home

Show music: Fantasy Island Obsession by Tom Rasmussen ft. Kai-Isaiah Jamal, with thanks to Globe Town Records.

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