Geoffrey Aldridge

Investigating identity construction within my work, my artistic interventions speak to the institutional defining of “identity art” throughout the late ‘80’s and early ‘90’s. Often promoting a stereotypical expectation about artists and their work, I position my work as a continuation of “identity art,” yet specifically from the perspective of a “queer artist,” as conceptually larger than myself. We all possess gender and sexuality. My interest is within the paradoxical moments between the objects and the viewer—it’s implicative—disrupting, or complicating the space. I want these interactions to work with an in-between-ness sensibility, like a pendulum swinging with two absolutions at either end. I position myself in the center of the swing, a place where I can question.

Originally from the rural Midwest, and raised in a small farming community, I refer to my upbringing as a source to create a larger dialogue about queer identity. In my work I refer to cultural pasts whether iconic cinematic themes, disco, farming, or Christianity, specifically Baptist, as a way to position the work. For example, Us is an installation of the fifty states, cut out of mirror and categorized to represent where, I, as a queer man would be most comfortable living. I think of my work as a way to position a greater cultural landscape that includes rural, suburban, and urban life.


For more information, www.geoffreyaldridge.com