Fire Island Artist Residency (FIAR) 2018 began with an introduction to the five new residents, at the Community House, on July 23. Chris Bogia and Jesse Harrod are coordinating the program and the new resident artists are José J. Figueroa, originally from Venezuela and living in Oakland, California; Anna Campbell, from Brooklyn; Leeanne (Lee) Maxey, who grew up near Little Rock, Arkansas, in an Evangelical environment, and now lives in Brooklyn; Montgomery (Monte) Perry Smith, originally from Texas, schooled in Chicago, and living in Brooklyn; and Kiarash K (KiKi), originally from Iran, has lived in London, and is now studying in Frankfurt. Of the five, four are Fire Island virgins—only Monte has visited here before. At the Meet the Artists evening, the residents showed slides of and explained some of their work, discussed the work they hope to do during their four weeks here or showed some done since their arrival, and answered questions.
Drawings that José displayed showed RuPaul on the TV screen, the line at the Department of Motor Vehicles, a beach near the Golden Gate Bridge, a Heart Circle—“a fairy tradition”—in San Francisco, a Queer Spa at Groundswell in San Francisco, and some of his many views of the Golden Gate Bridge. Work that he shared, that he’s done since arriving here, depicted the Sayville Ferry, his fellow residents, and the house on Sumner Walk where he’s staying.
Anna showed us her installation “Battery Ram for Sylvia, for Marsha, for Stormy,” an homage to the Stonewall Riots, with a horizontal parking meter and a disco ball among its elements; quotes from Monique Wittig’s “The Lesbian Body” on boards arranged like urinal dividers, an emotional work that she deemed both “bawdy” and “heartfelt;” and photos of the Lesbian Herstory Archives, where she had added bronze pointing fingers, cast from those of the women of the Archives, to a ladder.
Leeanne opened with, “I want to make lesbian paintings—what that means, I have no idea.” She shared a watercolor of her lover’s legs in pants, showing that she’s either “a janitor” or “a lesbian.” Classic novels “Nightwood,” “The Well of Loneliness,” and “Stone Butch Blues” have influenced her. She showed us a figure surrounded by leaves, both in green, and said that her aim is to “create eroticism in the paintings by using a monochrome palette.” A work she titled “k.d. lang” was based on one of the potholders that she always receives from her grandmother for Christmas.
Monte showed us his work “Daisy Chain,” literally a chain of large daisies, standing four feet tall; “You’ll Never Love Me Again,” made of lightweight plastic chain; a “sissy dungeon,” in pastel colors, including a hoop; and a personal version of an Erté drawing. He plans to create intimate works here that will incorporate flashlights. He has a drag persona, Patti Spliff—after Robert Mapplethorpe’s photos of Patti Smith—who is expected to appear here.
Kiarash’s interests are psychoanalysis, the body, and the memory of the body. Relatively new to painting, he has not yet “made obviously queer art,” but plans to write and draw during his residency here.
During their stay in Cherry Grove, the residents will attend lectures, given by visiting artists, at the Community House.