Reimagining Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Classical Art
Photographer Omar Soto's jaw-dropping work
If you ever find yourself in the Phoenix area, do NOT sleep on the Phoenix Art Museum (PAM). In fact, even if you aren’t planning a trip to that part of Arizona, you should, simply to visit this treasure-trove of an institution. The curatorial choices and artistic direction are among some of the best we’ve seen at a museum in a very long time. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be writing about the art we saw there, including other exhibits we also saw at the Arizona State University Art Museum.
It’s worth mentioning that the exhibit I’m covering today wasn’t even listed on the homepage of PAM website—that’s how chock-a-block full of great things there are to see at this institution.
As part of its Arizona Emerging Artists exhibit, there is an exhibit of the work of Omar Soto (they/them), winner of the 2024 Sally and Richard Lehmann Emerging Artist Award. Soto is also the recipient of the LGBTQIAP+ Photography Grant from the American Photographic Artists (APA).
The photographic tableaux that Soto has created feature saturated color, and our two favorites, appear to be shot in a convenience store. This urban Latinx juxtaposition with religious iconography, including the re-gendering of Jesus in “Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene,” is nothing short of brilliant. In fact, Dan was a gallery ahead of me, and came to get me and said, “This is the best pop art that is currently being made in the U.S.”
For the APA award, Soto was selected from applicants across the country, and the APA news release had this to say:
“Soto is a DACAmented photographer whose surreal imagery explores queer joy and escapism to navigate the marginalization they endure while living at the intersection of race, gender, and social class. Born in Tijuana in 1996, Soto migrated to the United States in 2000 and currently resides in Phoenix, Arizona.”
Soto’s grant submission for the APA award, “Mediums of Hope: Reimagining Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Classical Art,” which covers the exhibit that is featured at the Phoenix Art Museum is—according to the APA news release— “a collaborative photographic project amongst costume designers, makeup and nail artists, hair and clothing stylists, jewelry makers, painters, fabricators, and models to create elaborately staged visual compositions.”
Using iconic works of art history as a jumping off point, Soto’s photographs reimagine these classical works through the lens of QTBIPOC (Queer and Trans, Black, Indigenous, People of Color) identities.
“Rooted in the cultural expressions of Mexican and Latinx communities, as well as in music, film, and spiritual symbolism, Mediums of Hope establishes dialogue between classical and contemporary art and challenges the traditional canon in art history by centering queer people, trans people, and people of color.”
What an incredible talent Soto is. Keep your eyes peeled; we can only hope that there is much more to come from this gifted young creator.