Joe Sinness: the Flowers

Sexual desire and cinematic performance are filtered through the genres of still-life and portraiture in Joe Sinness’s body of work. For his MAEP exhibition, Sinness captures the beauty of communities traditionally viewed as aberrant.

Juxtaposing portraits, still-lifes, theatrical sculptures, and cinematic panoramas, Sinness’s works display the performance of sexual desire. Drawing inspiration from models he found using Grindr and Scruff, vintage physique magazines, and iconic films like Cruising, starring Al Pacino, Sinness visualizes desire and pursues a vision of utopic queer spaces and characters—portraying his subjects as tender and worthy of desire.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.