Chris Bogia
www.bogiadecor.com
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Biography
Chris Bogia was born in Wilmington, DE. He received his B.A. in Studio Arts from NYU in 2000, and an MFA from Yale in Sculpture, 2004. He has received numerous awards for his work, including the Alice Kimball Traveling Fellowship, and the Larry Kramer Initiative research grant for Lesbian and Gay studies at Yale. Chris continues to live and work in Astoria, Queens with his beloved dog, Olympia.
Artist Statement
Currently I am developing body of work that explores the intersection of decorative design and personal narrative. Vintage fabrics, wall decorations, and chic objets d’ art are all fascinations of mine as well as goals in my studio practice. Blended into these fabrics, forms, and pictures are reoccurring signifiers: nature, luxury, the dandy, small dog ownership, and my own autobiographical relationships to these things.
The stereotypes of the “homosexual aesthete” highlighted in television shows such as Queer Eye For The Straight Guy and home decorating shows such as Trading Spaces are a more general cultural reference point from which the work could be interpreted. I am interested in how these shows depict their gay personalities as arbiters of style and masters of the beautiful – something I still believe artists can be as well. Even as the gay men appearing in these shows have their individual talents highlighted, their abilities and sexuality frame them as a trope. I am trying to see what happens when the life of the interior designer becomes imbedded and inseparable from his handicraft.
Although more general approaches to the work are important to me, there is a private life that I am also trying to bring to the surface. Autobiographical reflections of sentimentality, desire, beauty, love, humor, loneliness and joy are inspirations for the narratives in the work, usually containing images of my dog, Olympia. She is a pet, a protagonist, a trademark, a surrogate boyfriend, and a stand in for myself. It is through her that I am exploring the landscapes and motifs of decorative design. I want to make work that refuses to divorce the decorator from their decoration.
Prices available upon request
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"Meditation Disaster," 11x 8 1/2"
mixed media
2005 |
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"Snowy Branches"
42" x 51"
printed cotton fabric stretched with 3/4" pre-fab stretchers
2005 |
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"Green Portrait"
36" x 42"
yarn on wood
2004 |
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"Green Portrait," Detail
36" x 42"
yarn on wood
2004 |
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"Fall Fetch"
42" x 10'
printed cotton
2004 |
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"Fall Fetch," Detail
42" x 10'
printed cotton
2004 |
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"Leash"
42" x (various depending on height of room)
printed satin
2004 |
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