Joey Terrill

Last updated
Joey Terrill
Born (1955-10-05) October 5, 1955 (age 68)
Los Angeles, California, United States
Alma mater Immaculate Heart College,
California State University, Los Angeles
Known forPainting, collage, drawing, photography
Movement Chicano art movement
Website www.joeyterrillart.com

Joey Terrill (born October 5, 1955) is an American Chicano queer visual artist. [1] He works in the mediums of painting, collage, drawing, and photography. His work often pays tribute to gay visual artist, and features Chicano themes. [2] [3] Terrill uses inspiration from cartoons, magazines, 1950s and 1960s art movements, and comics to produce his work. [4] He is based in Los Angeles.

Contents

Early life and education

Joey Terrill was born on October 5, 1955 in Los Angeles, California, to parents of Mexican descent. [3] He grew up as a second-generation Los Angeleno in Highland Park. [5] Terrill went to a Catholic all-boys school, where he found his interest in Chicano political movements. [1]

Terrill met artist Corita Kent when he was young, which influenced his decision to attend Immaculate Heart College, even though she was no longer teaching at the school during his attendance. [3] He received a BFA degree (1976) from Immaculate Heart College; and received a MFA degree (2001) from California State University, Los Angeles. [3]

Career

In 1969, Terrill became familiar with the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) and the Stonewall Riots by reading the Los Angeles Free Press. [1] The MCC introduced him to various members of the queer community, where he met Teddy Sandoval and Edmundo Meza. [1] Together, they created art, and participated in local activism.

Terrill and Sandoval began a close working artistic relationship, both inspired by their queer and Chicano identities. [1] In the late 1970s, Terrill created The Maricón Series portrait series, in which he made tee shirts with the self-descriptor "maricon" to question the word's meaning and context. [6]

Terrill was also fascinated by painting and painted various titles including He Used to Untie My Shoes (1978), If I Were Rich, I’d Buy My Lover Expensive Gifts (1980–1982), He Wore Ray Ban Glasses, a Rolex Watch, and He Used to Eat My Ass (1985). [7]

From 1980 to 1981, Terrill moved to New York City but eventually returned home to Los Angeles. At the time, the AIDS epidemic had recently broken out, affecting his closest friends and community. [1] In 1989, Terrill tested positive for HIV. [2] Overcome by the deaths surrounding him, Terrill moved to activism to help his local community. [1] During this time, Terrill also focused on creating work for the Chicano gay community, such as Chicos Modernos , an AIDS educational comic book written in Spanish. Terrill's art from 1989 still reemerged almost twenty years later, such as in his piece Remembrance (For Teddy and Arnie) (2008) based on his original painting Remembrance (1989). [7]

After the 1990s, Terrill's work reflected his community and everyday life. He also used 35mm photography connecting memory, storytelling, and themes of persistence. [8]

Terrill lives in Los Angeles and is the director of global advocacy and partnerships for the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. [8] His work can be found in museum collections, including at the Hammer Museum, [9] and the Museum of Modern Art. [10]

Work and exhibitions

"Homeboy Beautiful" (1979)

Acting as a defiance to machismo culture, Terrill wrote a zine dedicated to the representation of Chicano gay men. [1] While only two editions and one-hundred copies sold, the zines still received cult status. [1] In both zines, there are fashion sections with "Ask Lil Loca," sections that give popular cholo fashion advice and sections for art submissions. In the zines, Terrill wrote about "homo-homeboys" who were gang-affiliated Chicano men with internalized homophobia. [11]

"Axis Mundo: Queer Networks in Chicano L.A." (2017)

Organized by ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives in partnership with The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles for Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA, Axis Mundo: Queer Networks in Chicano L.A., presented art, music, and performance by queer Chicano/a artists in Los Angeles from the 1960s to the early 1990s. [12] The Maricón Series (1975) and Homeboy Beautiful (1979) were featured.

Once Upon a Time: Paintings 1981-2015 (2021)

"Joey Terrill: Cut and Paste" (2023)

From January 19 to February 25, 2023, Terrill premiered his work Cut and Paste, showcasing his collage work from the 1970s to today. The exhibition was held by The Ortuzar Projects, a gallery in Tribeca, New York. His work, using various materials, draws inspiration from Sister Corita Kent. [13] In the middle of the gallery was a fixture of a Xerox machine called It's Halloween Party Time from the late 1990s, displaying artifacts from parties he held at the peak of the AID Crisis. [13] Other works in the exhibit included When I Was Young (1993), Homeboy Beautiful (1979), and Here I am / Estoy Aquí (2022). [13]

Further reading

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vaginal Davis</span> Musical artist

Vaginal Davis is an American performing artist, painter, independent curator, composer, filmmaker and writer. Born intersex and raised in South Central, Los Angeles, Davis gained notoriety in New York during the 1980s, where she inspired the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn's prevalent drag scene as a genderqueer artist. She currently resides in Berlin, Germany.

Harry Gamboa Jr. is an American Chicano essayist, photographer, director, and performance artist. He was a founding member of the influential Chicano performance art collective ASCO.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carlos Almaraz</span> Mexican-American painter (1941–1989)

Carlos D. Almaraz was a Mexican-American artist and a pioneer of the Chicano art movement. He was one of the founder of the Centro de Arte Público (1977–1979), a Chicano/Chicana arts organization in Highland Park, Los Angeles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gronk (artist)</span> American painter (born 1954)

Gronk, born Glugio Nicandro, is a Chicano painter, printmaker, and performance artist. His work is collected by museums around the country including the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Los Four</span> Artist collective in Los Angeles

Los Four was a Chicano artist collective active based in Los Angeles, California. The group was instrumental in bringing the Chicano art movement to the attention of the mainstream art world.

Elsa Flores is a well known Chicana street artist. Her mother's name was Maria Valenzuela and she was originally from a small village called San Javier located in Sinaloa, Mexico. She is one of the best known members of the Chicano street art movement.

Rick Castro is an American photographer, motion picture director, stylist, curator and writer whose work focuses on BDSM, fetish, and desire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Immaculate Heart College</span> Catholic college in Los Angeles, California (1906–1981)

Immaculate Heart College (1906–1981) was a private, Catholic college located in Los Angeles, California. The college offered various courses including art and religious education studies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chicano art movement</span> Movements by Mexican-American artists

The Chicano Art Movement represents groundbreaking movements by Mexican-American artists to establish a unique artistic identity in the United States. Much of the art and the artists creating Chicano Art were heavily influenced by Chicano Movement which began in the 1960s.

Patssi Valdez is an American Chicana artist. She is a founding member of the art collective Asco. Valdez's work represents some of the finest Chicana avant-garde expressionism which includes but not limited to painting, sculpture and fashion design. She lives and works in Los Angeles, California.

Willie F. Herrón III is an American Chicano muralist, performance artist and commercial artist. Herrón was also one of the founding members of ASCO, the East Los Angeles based Chicano artists collective . 

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asco (art collective)</span> East Los Angeles Chicano artist collective

Asco was an East Los Angeles based Chicano artist collective, active from 1972 to 1987. Asco adopted its name as a collective in 1973, making a direct reference to the word's significance in Spanish ("asco"), which is disgust or repulsion. Asco's work throughout 1970s and 1980s responded specifically to socioeconomic and political problems surrounding the Chicano community in the United States, as well the Vietnam War. Harry Gamboa Jr., Glugio "Gronk" Nicandro, Willie F. Herrón III and Patssi Valdez form the core members of the group.

Laura Aguilar was an American photographer. She was born with auditory dyslexia and attributed her start in photography to her brother, who showed her how to develop in dark rooms. She was mostly self-taught, although she took some photography courses at East Los Angeles College, where her second solo exhibition, Laura Aguilar: Show and Tell, was held. Aguilar used visual art to bring forth marginalized identities, especially within the LA Queer scene and Latinx communities. Before the term Intersectionality was used commonly, Aguilar captured the largely invisible identities of large bodied, queer, working-class, brown people in the form of portraits. Often using her naked body as a subject, she used photography to empower herself and her inner struggles to reclaim her own identity as "Laura" – a lesbian, fat, disabled, and brown person. Although work on Chicana/os is limited, Aguilar has become an essential figure in Chicano art history and is often regarded as an early "pioneer of intersectional feminism" for her outright and uncensored work. Some of her most well-known works are Three Eagles Flying, The Plush Pony Series, and Nature Self Portraits. Aguilar has been noted for her collaboration with cultural scholars such as Yvonne Yarbo-Berjano and receiving inspiration from other artists like Judy Dater. She was well known for her portraits, mostly of herself, and also focused upon people in marginalized communities, including LGBT and Latino subjects, self-love, and social stigma of obesity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yosimar Reyes</span> Mexican artist

Yosimar Reyes is a Mexican-born poet and activist. He is a queer undocumented immigrant who was born in Guerrero, Mexico, and raised in East San Jose, California. Reyes has been described as "a voice that shines light on the issues affecting queer immigrants in the U.S. and throughout the world."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karen Boccalero</span> American nun and artist (1933–1997)

Karen Boccalero was an American nun, fine artist, and founder and former director of Self-Help Graphics & Art.

Gerardo Velazquez (1958–1992) was a visual artist and musician, who was notably a member of the Los Angeles-based punk group Nervous Gender. Nervous Gender was known for their confrontational and antagonistic performances that was unapologetically queer and anti-Catholic in theme.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Les Petites Bon-Bons</span> Group of conceptual/life artists

Les Petites Bon-Bons was a group of conceptual/life artists that originated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the early 1970s. Their activities spanned the nascent gay activist movement, the international correspondence network and the Hollywood glitter rock scene. They are known largely by the work of Jerry Dreva and Robert Lambert, aka Jerry and Bobby Bonbon, and who achieved much of their fame by effectively manipulating major media outlets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ray Navarro</span>

Raymond Robert Navarro was an American video artist, filmmaker, and HIV/AIDS activist. Navarro was an active member of ACT UP and a founder of Diva TV. His activism was featured in the documentary How to Survive a Plague. Navarro's art was exhibited at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Tacoma Art Museum, Bronx Museum of the Arts, and Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland, among others. Navarro's papers, videos, and artworks are held at the ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives at the USC Libraries in Los Angeles.

Edmundo Meza, also known as Mundo Meza, was an artist and activist who was born in Tijuana, Mexico and grew up in East Los Angeles. He discovered his passion for the area's avant-garde culture in early 1970. As an emerging artist, Mundo Meza worked for shoe designer Fred Slatten on Santa Monica Boulevard as a window dresser. He also painted unique designs onto Slatten's platform shoes, gathering a celebrity clientele which included Cher, Elton John, and Diana Ross.

The queer Chicano art scene emerged from Los Angeles during the late 1960s and early 1990s composing of queer Mexican American artists. The scene’s activity included motives and themes relating to political activism, social justice, and identity. The movement was influenced by the respective movements of gay liberation, Chicano civil rights, and women’s liberation. The social and political conditions impacting Chicano communities as well as queer people, including the HIV/AIDS epidemic, are conveyed in the scene’s expressive work.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Rodrídguez, Richard (2011). "Being and Belonging: Joey Terrill's Performance of Politics". Biography. 34 (3). University of Hawai'i Press on behalf of Center for Biographical Research: 467–491. doi:10.1353/bio.2011.0046. JSTOR   23541226. S2CID   153749950 – via JSTOR.
  2. 1 2 Rubin, David S. (2024-02-19). "Joey Terrill's Playful Tributes to Gay Artists We've Lost". Hyperallergic . Retrieved 2024-02-21.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Art about AIDS has often depicted grief. L.A. painter Joey Terrill made it about life". Los Angeles Times . 2024-02-14. ISSN   0458-3035 . Retrieved 2024-02-21.
  4. ↑ "Visual AIDS | Joey Terrill". Visual AIDS. Retrieved 2023-02-17.
  5. ↑ "Celebrating Diversity Series - Joey Terrill". Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA). Retrieved 2024-02-21.
  6. ↑ Hernández, Robb (2014). "Drawing Offensive/Offensive Drawing: Toward a Theory of Mariconógraphy". MELUS. 39 (2). Oxford University Press on behalf of Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States (MELUS): 121–152. doi:10.1093/melus/mlu020. JSTOR   44392740.
  7. 1 2 Hernández, Robb (2019). Archiving an Epidemic: Art, AIDS, and the Queer Chicanx Avant-Garde. Vol. 36. NYU Press. ISBN   978-1-4798-4530-9. JSTOR   j.ctv1f885xs.
  8. 1 2 "Exhibitions: Joey Terrill". Ortuzar Projects. [ better source needed ]. Retrieved 2023-03-20.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  9. ↑ "Joey Terrill". Hammer Museum. 2023-11-28. Retrieved 2024-02-21.
  10. ↑ "Joey Terrill, American, born 1955". MoMA.
  11. ↑ "Homeboy Beautiful | One Archives". one.usc.edu. Retrieved 2023-03-20.
  12. ↑ "Axis Mundo: Queer Networks in Chicano L.A. | One Archives". one.usc.edu. Retrieved 2023-03-20.
  13. 1 2 3 "Joey Terrill: Cut and Paste". Ortuzar Projects. [ better source needed ]. Retrieved 2023-02-17.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.