VLAB is pleased to present the duo exhibition "I AM GAY, I AM PROUD" featuring new works by emerging artists Felipe Chavez and Jared Brook. The exhibition featuring works by two artists who explore their own sexuality, takes place a week before the LGBTQ+ celebrations in Madrid. The presentation marks the artists' first exhibition with the gallery in Madrid.

Felipe Chavez is a figurative artist born in Colombia in 1994, now working and living in London, England. Through his paintings created with Indian Ink wash on paper, he uses his own body to explore the male form and his relationship with sexuality and the space around him. Felipe is an emerging artist who has already exhibited in multiple galleries around the world throughout the United States and Europe.

Jared Brook was born in chicago in 1998 where he is currently living. Brook studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago graduating with a BFA in 2020 and he is now an emerging abstract painter. Although his parents are both American, Brook was born and raised in Central Europe. Growing up in a highly religious community, Brook struggled throughout adolescence with his sexuality and identity. 

Felipe's and Jared's techniques are very different from each other. While Felipe usually uses Indian ink onto paper, Jared paints with acrylic on cradled wood. 

In Felipe’s own words: “my painting comprises different techniques of applying Indian ink onto paper, focussing on forming juxtaposing balances of ink wash and bold dark lines that reveal realistically shaded bodies in enigmatic and surreal environments”.

Colombian artist Felipe has recently explored what self-portraiture means to him, challenging the relationship between ‘the model’ and ‘the artist’ by creating narratives where the male figures in the paintings, though all physically resembling the artist, take on separate identities of their own. Some live their life enjoying the exhibitionism of being watched by a man, others feel conflicted with the joy of feeling overly exposed and vulnerable, the rest simply continue intimately exploring their bodies unaware of being the subject of anyone else’s gaze.

Felipe’s process starts with taking photographs, alone – this period of self-study then influences the subsequent paintings. Because in that moment, nothing else matters other than the artist and his creative journey. A new person is only invited into the space when they become the viewer, the voyeur within the finished piece.

Chicago artist Jared continues exploring queer figurative abstraction, paying close attention to the affective contours of queer intimacy and pathos through perspectival techniques and proximity to the spaces that the figures occupy on his panels. The young men in his portraits are painted so that they blend into the background demanding us to look ever so closely to see them.

As Jared states “When I'm making my work, I draw from my own life and memories. My time spent in the closet was terrifying, living in a void to avoid danger. The gaze becomes the only way to interact with the world. Voyeurism has always been a part of that experience as well as at the forefront of my work. Learning the importance of the gaze and the complexity of its intent became a major component to these paintings [...]”.

The exhibition "I AM GAY, I AM PROUD" will be on view at VLAB until June 30th, 2023.