Rider (2023)

Oil paint on canvas

16” x 20” inches

In this painting, I explore the dynamic intersection of my identities as a queer, trans Filipino-American. The work depicts a queer-coded cowboy thrown from a carabao-bull hybrid, a creature that exists in an abstracted reality. The cowboy dressed in leather, an iconic symbol within queer kink culture, embodies contrasting expressions of masculinity as he tries to ride the colorful and flamboyant beast of burden.