Finding power in pushing back

There is power to be found in pushing back, there is community to be made in forming resistance. In A Rebel’s Fantasy at FLXST Contemporary, curator Michael Rangel brings together seven artists from Chicago and beyond to remind us of the pure joy found in relishing rebellion, in pushing against the regulations, expectations, and constraints that bind us. With an eye on the “outsiders, the weird ones, the queer, and the monsters,” the exhibition forms a safe space for those of us on the margins, a place for experiences to visually overlap and intersect. 

“A Rebel’s Fantasy”Through 12/31: Wed-Fri 2-5 PM, Sun 2-5 PM, Tue by appointment, FLXST Contemporary, 2251 S. Michigan, Ste. 220, flxst.co

The mixed media paintings of Humberto Maldonado remind us that, in order to rebel, there must be something to rebel against. In works such as How’s Your Head?, Maldonado offers us that something—the restricting and damning industry of organized religion—by physically using religious tokens such as cross necklaces in his queer-centered paintings. Enrique Nevarez’s textured paintings also borrow religious iconography while rendering ultra-feminine, highly-saturated scenes of pink frosting-like paint and glitter. These works show a world where religion and playfully sexual beings can exist in tandem instead of in conflict—no matter the sexual preferences or kinks. 

Brianna Noble, The One, 2021, Oil paint, acrylic, and chain on unstretched canvas, 45.75 x 36.5 x 0.1 inches Credit: Courtesy of FLXST Contemporary

Sexual/sensual bodies also have a place in Brianna Noble’s work, which not only allows femme Black folks to take up space and agency, but also simply lets them just be sexual according to their own rules. There is so much joy present in the works in the exhibition that we almost forget that this is meant as a “rebellion.” Unfortunately, other people’s pleasure, the act of being joyful, is often seen as a rebuttal, an act against a regulation or constraint that existed before us, made by others without our consent. Whose rules? Not ours. There is an air of hopeful resilience in the works that, one day, these acts won’t be a rebellion—they will simply be.

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