Join us in the STUDIO on Thurs. Feb. 26th for an talk with ceramic artist Ron Geibel

 

 

Artist Statement:

My artwork and research address the complex landscape among intimacy, pleasure, and authority as it concerns the opaque relationship between public and private desires that constitute queer identity.

Through a cross-section of queer theory and materiality, I use highly crafted, inconspicuous objects to question one’s awareness of self and others. Candy-coated surfaces and picture-perfect facades toy with the notion that temptation and desire permit one to be drawn to what they do not even realize are present. Like the “straightacting,” queer-identifying individual who inconspicuously navigates the public, I use multiples in neatly packed rows and precariously stacked piles to act as camouflage, disguising the suggestive nature of the forms.

For Queer Theorist José Esteban Muñoz, living a queer experience in or out of the public eye is an act of artwork and activism filled with poignancy, pleasure, beauty, and urgency. From coy and erotic to playful and political, I articulate queer positions and visibility through intimately scaled works that address sexuality, gender, and identity.

Website: https://www.rongeibel.com/

Instagram: @rongeibel

 

Bio:

Ron Geibel is a ceramic artist and educator based in Austin, TX. ​​Geibel received a BFA from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania and his MFA from the University of Montana. Geibel exhibits both nationally and internationally, and venues include the Bogert Gallery in Knokke, Belgium; Untitled Space, New York City; Susquehanna Art Museum, Pennsylvania; San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, Texas; and Manifest Gallery in Cincinnati, Ohio. His work is featured in Create Magazine, ArtMaze Magazine, Ceramics Art and Perception, and Artist Magazine, published in Taiwan City, Taiwan.

Geibel is a recipient of a 2019 Lighton International Artists Exchange Grant. The grant helped to support his three-month artist residency at the European Ceramic Workcentre in The Netherlands. There, his research focused on place and how that affects the queer lived experience. Other residencies include the Clay Art Center in Port Chester, New York; The Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, New York; and the Northern Clay Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Ron is currently an Associate Professor and Chair of Studio Art at Southwestern University in Georgetown, TX.