Xavier Schipani

The Lightning Can't Be Harnessed

June 25 – July 30, 2022

Dragging the Turmoil, Site Specific Installation/Acrylic Wall Mural, 2022

The Lightning Can't Be Harnessed is centered on the internal and external turmoil surrounding the trans community. Being that it is from Schipani’s perspective, the figures are trans-masculine identified. “I am likening the movement of the bodies, color palette, and chaotic compositions to that of a building storm”. The show's title references the inability of society's efforts to contain, restrict and erase the trans community.

“The brewing elements of a storm are a physical representation of my inner turmoil. I am at ease with a brooding sky because weirdly I think I feel seen. My response to the threat of a down poor is excitement, I feel like it gives me permission to react, to be wild, and to express things that I need to let go of. Visually I love when the sky turns greenish-gray, I am very connected to the tonality of a transitioning sky from light to dark. The changes in the atmosphere are incredible; the temperature change, the smell of rain, the wind in the trees, and the sounds sort of swallow me up.

My hope with this installation is to create an atmosphere that resembles the emotions of a storm as a trans body and references the chaos of lightning in a bottle.” — Xavier Schipani

The Lightning Can't Be Harnessed, runs from June 25 through July 30, 2022.

Gallery Hours Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays 12-6pm.

About the artist

Xavier Schipani was born in 1984 in Washington, D.C. He studied at the Center for Arts and Culture in AIX-en-Provence and received a BFA in painting from the Maryland Institute College of Art. Schipani is an Austin-based Transgender artist, who has focused his practice on creating large painting installations that explore the boundaries of gender, body politics, sexuality, and queer identity. His unique voice and personal connection to the themes of his work create intimate experiences in combination with a larger-than-life scale to establish a contrast between the work and the viewer. He continues to investigate fear and anger, masculinity as performance, and the ambiguity of what makes a man.

xavierschipani.com

Xavier Schipani

 
 

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