EXHIBITION: MUSE, Niki Grangruth & James Kinser
August 25 – September 25, 2020
University of St Francis Art Gallery
25 E. Van Buren St.
Joliet, Illinois, 60432
Muse, a collaborative body of work by artists Niki Grangruth and James Kinser, explores issues of non-conforming gender identity by reimagining and reinterpreting well-known paintings from art history. The photographs, sets, and costumes are all carefully constructed to reflect a painterly aesthetic. With art history as a foundation that grounds the work in the familiar and comfortable, each piece nods to the notion that history tends to be repeated in an organic and cyclical manner.
The use of a male subject, gaze, and costumes questions common gender-specific beauty ideals, disrupts the social construct of binary gender identity, and explores gender as a non-linear and ever-changing construct. The photographs also document a process of gender play – a conscious hybridization of hyper-feminine and masculine as a way of exploring the fluid, performative, and sometimes dichotomous, elements of identity.
University of St. Francis Art Gallery, 2020
NIKI GRANGRUTH | Bio
Niki Grangruth (b. St. Paul, MN) is a photo-based artist working in Chicago, IL. Her imagery explores issues of performative gender identity, beauty ideals and the reinterpretation of art history. Her work is influenced by pervasive archetypes found in cultural texts, art history, mythologies and folklore.
Her work has been exhibited nationally at museums and galleries such as the Center for Fine Art Photography, the Indianapolis Art Center, the Kinsey Institute Gallery and the Zhou B. Art Center. Grangruth received her B.A. in Studio Art and English from Saint Olaf College in Northfield, MN and her M.F.A. in Photography from Columbia College Chicago.
University of St. Francis Art Gallery, 2020
JAMES KINSER | Bio
James Kinser is a Chicago-based multimedia artist. Combining performance and costume design, his work currently explores idiosyncratic expressions of identity that challenge the traditional male/female construct of gender. Previously, his work has addressed the relationship between the body, spirituality, and sexuality–all topics which continue to be incorporated into his work.
James earned an MA (2005) in Interdisciplinary Art at Columbia College Chicago and a BA (1997) in Art Education and Fine Art from Bethany College in Lindsborg, KS.
For additional information on this exhibition and other gallery related items, please contact: Jennifer Moore, jmoore@stfrancis.edu
