391 Main Street, Catskill, NY
I Wanna Be You Anywhere is a two-person show curated by artists Juan Arango Palacios and Nicholas Zepeda, featuring their own works. Viewing hours are Saturdays 12 - 5 pm, no appointment is required.
I Wanna Be You Anywhere is an exhibition featuring prints, drawings, and installation work by Chicago-based artists Juan Arango Palacios and Nicholas Zepeda produced during a shared residency at the Macedonia Institute in Chatham, NY. Zepeda’s attention to domestic spaces paired with Arango Palacios’ fantastical world-building set the stage for a tale of queer becoming, told through a set of collaborative drawings and individual projects.
Both drawing inspiration from their favorite music, these artists unapologetically indulge in their vulnerabilities by referencing emotional lyrics and their own childhood memories.
Although distinct in their own playlists, the two share a clear a dedication to drawing. One that can be traced to a pictorial structures course they both attended at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
In the fantasy of Arango Palacios’ work, characters from Latin American folklore are brought to life through the lens of contemporary queer culture. Make-up wearing tattooed characters yield swords, and are guided by the magical lyrics of Cumbia and Reggaeton music.
Zepeda presents a new series of of text-based yearning and installation from a practice interested in the performance of sharing autobiographical work, and not leaving your apartment.
About the Artists:
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Juan Arango Palacios was born in Pereira, Colombia, and was raised in a traditional Catholic home. Their traditional upbringing was cut short by a series of migrations that their family took seeking a better future. The family moved from Colombia to southern Louisiana where Juan’s sense of identity and belonging began to be skewed by their lack of knowledge of the English language, their unfamiliarity with American culture, and their internal struggle with a queer identity. Living in other parts of Louisiana and Texas, and being further subdued by the conservative culture in which they lived, Juan continued to live with a constant fear of their own identity throughout their youth. Juan graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and has found a safe-haven within the queer community in Chicago. -
Nicholas Zepeda (b.1999) is an artist from Chicago’s southwest neighborhoods working with drawings and paintings. Recently including video and installation, Zepeda is focused on how presentation influences autobiographical work, and how it can be used for expressive gestures.“The drawings have always been about self-discovery, but they’ve become progressively more about fear. There was the subject of not really knowing a correct way to interact with your environment that felt a lot younger to me, but now there’s this growing concern of what it means to try really hard anyways.”
Zepeda graduated with a BFA in Studio from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where he received a nomination for the Yale at Norfolk Summer Residency program. He recently completed the Ox-Bow Longform residency in Michigan, and attended a residency in Chatham, NY at The Macedonia Institute. Zepeda will have an upcoming solo-exhibition in Norwich, UK with Moosey Art in summer 2022.