Tough Love
Nicolo Gentile
I wish my PrEP medication made me feel like I was taking part in something, but so far it has only softened my bowels.
This is not the fire in my belly I had anticipated.
My work is an investigation of Queer radicalism, presence, absence and ecstasy. From the gym to the showers, from the dance floor to the bedroom, I examine the physical conditions of relational identity and sexuality construction. Inspired by politically motivated 1990s abstraction responding to the AIDS epidemic, my work looks to reclaim the critical capacity of the queer minimalist gesture in a time of gay pragmatism, assimilation, and continued alienation.
I am inspired by the materials and conditions of queer transgression which inform my sculpture and installations. Composed of leather, latex, iron and steel, my sculptures slip between recognizable materials of kink, industry and sport to address the oscillating power dynamics of gender, masculinities and BDSM.
!["Tough Love, 2021". 144” x 124” x 112”
Nickel-plated steel ball chain, automotive enamel, plywood, latex paint, appropriated image by Rex (1977) found in a 1991 Manifest Reader article “Leather in the ‘90s” by Dane Leathers, found crate outside leath](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3c104daf9e6f2b7d93ecc0/858cae8b-b79e-46ba-b862-82fa6f7f641f/N_GENTILE2.jpg)
"Tough Love, 2021". 144” x 124” x 112” Nickel-plated steel ball chain, automotive enamel, plywood, latex paint, appropriated image by Rex (1977) found in a 1991 Manifest Reader article “Leather in the ‘90s” by Dane Leathers, found crate outside leather bar shuttered by Covid-19 outbreak. Installation view from solo exhibition at Temple Contemporary. Photo credit: Neighboring States.
!["Tough Love" (detail), 2021. 144” x 124” x 112”
Nickel-plated steel ball chain, automotive enamel, plywood, latex paint, appropriated image by Rex (1977) found in a 1991 Manifest Reader article “Leather in the ‘90s” by Dane Leathers, found crate outs](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3c104daf9e6f2b7d93ecc0/f5f9dc9d-8fe7-4e8c-af5e-07b20e05e349/N_GENTILE3.jpg)
"Tough Love" (detail), 2021. 144” x 124” x 112” Nickel-plated steel ball chain, automotive enamel, plywood, latex paint, appropriated image by Rex (1977) found in a 1991 Manifest Reader article “Leather in the ‘90s” by Dane Leathers, found crate outside leather bar shuttered by Covid-19 outbreak. Installation view from solo exhibition at Temple Contemporary. Photo credit: Neighboring States.
!["Queer and Now | Issue 1", 2021. Edition of 1,000. 36” x 45” x 4” (9” x 12” each)
Offset lithograph on newsprint, polyethylene bag, ongoing compilation of interviews with Leathermen, Act Up members, art fags and LGBTQIA+ community members formatted a](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3c104daf9e6f2b7d93ecc0/480ec583-7472-428d-baf9-a76eea709256/N_GENTILE5.jpg)
"Queer and Now | Issue 1", 2021. Edition of 1,000. 36” x 45” x 4” (9” x 12” each) Offset lithograph on newsprint, polyethylene bag, ongoing compilation of interviews with Leathermen, Act Up members, art fags and LGBTQIA+ community members formatted as personal ads. Installation view from solo exhibition at Temple Contemporary. Photo credit: Neighboring States.
!["Tough Love" (detail), 2021. 144” x 124” x 112”
Nickel-plated steel ball chain, automotive enamel, plywood, latex paint, appropriated image by Rex (1977) found in a 1991 Manifest Reader article “Leather in the ‘90s” by Dane Leathers, found crate outs](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3c104daf9e6f2b7d93ecc0/2e851eab-60a8-44fd-bf9f-b0110b2f53d3/N_GENTILE7.jpg)
"Tough Love" (detail), 2021. 144” x 124” x 112” Nickel-plated steel ball chain, automotive enamel, plywood, latex paint, appropriated image by Rex (1977) found in a 1991 Manifest Reader article “Leather in the ‘90s” by Dane Leathers, found crate outside leather bar shuttered by Covid-19 outbreak. Installation view from solo exhibition at Temple Contemporary. Photo credit: Neighboring States.
Nicolo Gentile
TYL Sculpture, ‘21
IG: @nicologentile
Website: nicologentile.com
Nicolo Gentile (b. 1991) is an artist working and living in Philadelphia, PA. He received his MFA from the Tyler School of Art and Architecture. A child of the ‘90s, Gentile is part of a queer generation that came of age in the wake of tragedy. His work aims to perform within the “modality of ecstatic time”; to radicalize queerness through the reanimation of spaces and experiences of the past for the critical reimagining of the future.