Press Release Devan Shimoyama: Cry, Baby

A mixed media artwork depicting a man who is looking off to the left. His eyes are made of flowers and he has jewel tears running down his face. His hair is replaced with glitter and there is a razor going over that area. There are pink flowers around his chest area and other pink flowers in the background. There are also six photographs of men in the background.

Devan Shimoyama, Tasha, 2018, Courtesy of the artist

For immediate release

Tuesday, May 29, 2018

The Andy Warhol Museum announces Devan Shimoyama: Cry, Baby, opening October 13, 2018. Devan Shimoyama: Cry, Baby will mark the first museum solo exhibition of Devan Shimoyama, Philadelphia-born painter and professor at Carnegie Mellon University. Spanning his burgeoning career, this exhibition includes painting, photography, and sculpture, and a series of new works that will be on view for the first time.

In figurative painting and self-portraiture, Shimoyama creates vulnerable yet resilient depictions of African American boyhood and masculinity. His work challenges cliché with daring and personal representations of the complexities of race and sexuality. In his recent barbershop paintings, Shimoyama transforms the hyper-masculine social space into queer fantasy where feminine glamour and fashion take over, and tender depictions of boys don floral capes and glitter-encrusted hair.

“It’s so rewarding to be working with Devan Shimoyama at such an early point in his career,” said Jessica Beck, Milton Fine curator of art. “His work balances pain and strength, intimacy and isolation with an ease and lightness that is captivating and memorable. His joyful yet deeply emotional portraits create space for a necessary, critical dialog around intimacy, sexuality, and race.”

Shimoyama creates two distinct worlds—one an enchanted paradise, the other a queer imagining of the African American barbershop. Celebrated for fraternity and community, Shimoyama presents the barbershop as a space where young men and boys can feel shamed and vulnerable. In sculpture, he creates objects of mourning for Trayvon Martin and Tamir Rice, both examples of the aggressive targeting of African American youth as fearful or threatening. While canvases feel joyful and celebratory, they also present commentary on pain and sorrow. Teardrops lurk in the background of his landscapes or stream down the faces of his figures as a reminder of the racial injustices at work in contemporary society. Shimoyama presents a world where race, sexuality, and identity can operate from a point of freedom generated by inner strength.

This exhibition, on view through March 17, 2019, makes a unique connection to The Andy Warhol Museum’s permanent collection and brings to light contemporary insight into one of Warhol’s largest and yet most overlooked painting commissions, the Ladies and Gentlemen series of 1974 -75. Visitors will find Shimoyama’s work in dialog with Warhol’s portraits of drag queens on the fourth floor of the museum’s permanent collection. “Shimoyama’s confident and daring depictions of sexuality, race and queer performance help reclaim the agency and visibility that Warhol’s models have been denied,” says Beck. “The juxtaposition will offer a unique opportunity to bring the Ladies and Gentlemen paintings out from the shadows.”

Born in 1989 in Philadelphia, Shimoyama received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in drawing and painting from Pennsylvania State University in 2011, and his Master of Fine Arts from Yale University School of Art in 2014. Shimoyama has exhibited widely at galleries throughout the United States, including De Buck Gallery, Lesley Heller Gallery, and Bravin Lee Programs in New York; Samuel Freeman Gallery in Los Angeles; Alter Space in San Francisco; and Emmanuel Gallery in Denver. His work was also included in Realities in Contemporary Video Art at the Fondation des Etats Unis, in Paris in 2015.

In 2019, Holland Cotter selected Shimoyama as one of the The New York Times’ 19 Artists to Watch, His work has been written about in The Los Angeles Times, New American Paintings, Pinwheel, the blog Filthy Dreams, and Saatchi Art. In 2016, Shimoyama was named the winner of the Miami Beach PULSE Prize at PULSE Miami Beach. He is currently represented by De Buck Gallery in New York, and is the Cooper-Siegel Assistant Professor of Art in the School of Art at Carnegie Mellon University. Shimoyama lives and works in Pittsburgh.

The exhibition will be accompanied by an illustrated catalogue with essays by Jessica Beck, Alex Fialho, and Rickey Laurentiis and an interview by Emily Colucci with the artist.

To compliment the exhibition, a robust schedule of public programs is being organized throughout Pittsburgh. Rashaad Newsome, renowned multi-disciplinary artist, will make his Pittsburgh premiere of Shade Compositions at the Carnegie Music Hall. Other events include a partnership with the Center for African American Poetry and Poetics at the University of Pittsburgh, and a closing dialog with Shimoyama and the exhibition catalog contributors.

Devan Shimoyama: Cry, Baby is curated by Jessica Beck, The Warhol’s Milton Fine curator of art.

Generous support of Devan Shimoyama: Cry, Baby is provided by the Quentin and Evelyn T. Cunningham Fund of The Pittsburgh Foundation, The Fine Foundation, Arts, Equity, & Education Fund, Karen and Jim Johnson, De Buck Gallery, Jim Spencer and Michael Lin, with additional support from Stacy and Samuel Freeman, V. Joy Simmons M.D., Mrs. Ellen and Mr. Jack Kessler, The Plastino Family Charitable Fund, and Mr. Howard C. Eglit.


The Warhol receives state arts funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency; and The Heinz Endowments. Further support is provided by the Allegheny Regional Asset District.

The Andy Warhol Museum

Located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the place of Andy Warhol’s birth, The Andy Warhol Museum holds the largest collection of Warhol’s artworks and archival materials and is one of the most comprehensive single-artist museums in the world. The Warhol is one of the four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh.

Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh

Established in 1895 by Andrew Carnegie, Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh is a collection of four distinctive museums: Carnegie Museum of Art, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Carnegie Science Center, and The Andy Warhol Museum. The museums reach more than 1.4 million people a year through exhibitions, educational programs, outreach activities, and special events.

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Credit and copyright

Devan Shimoyama, Tasha, 2018, Courtesy of the artist

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A mixed media artwork depicting a man who is looking off to the left. His eyes are made of flowers and he has jewel tears running down his face. His hair is replaced with glitter and there is a razor going over that area. There are pink flowers around his chest area and other pink flowers in the background. There are also six photographs of men in the background.

Devan Shimoyama, Tasha, 2018, Courtesy of the artist

Credit and copyright

Devan Shimoyama, Cry, Baby, 2016, Courtesy of Howard C. Eglit and the artist

Downloads

A mixed media artwork of a man all in black holding a large, round, gray object. Around the edges of the work are silhouettes of plants in black. The background is a light purple and there are pink drops that appear to be falling from the top all over the artwork.

Devan Shimoyama, Cry, Baby, 2016, Courtesy of Howard C. Eglit and the artist

Credit and copyright

Devan Shimoyama, Daphne's Prayer, 2016, Courtesy of Lesley Heller Gallery and the artist

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A mixed media artwork of a green man with green hair and light coming out of his open mouth. His thumb and index finger on his right hand seems to be wrapped around the light coming from his mouth. There are two branches with leaves on each side of his body and come of the leaves have eyes on them.

Devan Shimoyama, Daphne's Prayer, 2016, Courtesy of Lesley Heller Gallery and the artist

Credit and copyright

Devan Shimoyama, Butterfly Eater, 2017, Courtesy of Joyce Varvatos and the artist

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A mixed media artwork of a man painted in red with a spotted, green snake wrapped around him. The snake's mouth is open, exposing its fangs. It appears to be trying to eat butterflies that have landed on the man's hand. The background is a gradient of orange to yellow from top to bottom and there are other red shapes and teardrops also in the background.

Devan Shimoyama, Butterfly Eater, 2017, Courtesy of Joyce Varvatos and the artist

Credit and copyright

Devan Shimoyama, He Lies, He Cries, 2016, Courtesy of Joyce Varvatos and the artist

Downloads

A mixed media artwork of a man with a spotted, green snake wrapped around his arm and around the back of his head. There are white flowers over the man's eyes. The snake is in front of the man's mouth with his mouth open, exposing his fangs. The background is mostly yellow, with some blue in some areas. There are yellow drops within the blue areas.

Devan Shimoyama, He Lies, He Cries, 2016, Courtesy of Joyce Varvatos and the artist

Credit and copyright

Devan Shimoyama, Snake Baby, 2016, Private Collection, New York City, Courtesy of the artist

Downloads

A mixed media artwork of a purple man with a black mustache. He has a spotted, green snake wrapped around him. The snake has his mouth open, exposing his fangs. The background is light purple with dark purple drops all over. There are also flowers throughout the background and one over the man's shoulder area.

Devan Shimoyama, Snake Baby, 2016, Private Collection, New York City, Courtesy of the artist

Credit and copyright

Devan Shimoyama, Sit Still, 2018, Courtesy of Jim Spencer and Michael H. Lin

Downloads

A mixed media artwork of a man with gold hair, mustache, and beard, in a barbershop chair. There are two hands, one against his forehead, and the other seems to be shaving his beard and mustache area. His body is covered in a barbershop cape. There are barbershop tools on a counter in the background.

Devan Shimoyama, Sit Still, 2018, Courtesy of Jim Spencer and Michael H. Lin

Credit and copyright

Devan Shimoyama, Michael, 2018, Courtesy of Richard Gerrig, Timothy Peterson and the artist

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A mixed media artwork of a man standing in front of a sink, holding an electric shaver to his head. He is wearing blue pants. His chest and arms are exposed, but are covered in painted flowers. He is wearing glasses and has gold hair, including a gold mustache and beard.

Devan Shimoyama, Michael, 2018, Courtesy of Richard Gerrig, Timothy Peterson and the artist

Credit and copyright

Devan Shimoyama, For Tamir III, 2018, Courtesy of the artist

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A sculptural artwork depicting a swing with aluminum chain suspension and a seat of peach, pink, white and yellow flowers. The background is white.

Devan Shimoyama, For Tamir III, 2018, Courtesy of the artist

Credit and copyright

Andy Warhol, Ladies and Gentlemen (Wilhelmina Ross), 1975, The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.

Downloads

A screenprint of a drag queen wearing a green scarf over her head. She is wearing a black shirt and large, round earrings. The background is blue.

Andy Warhol, Ladies and Gentlemen (Wilhelmina Ross), 1975, The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.

Credit and copyright

Devan Shimoyama

Photo by Joshua Franzos

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A man sits on a chair, leaning forward, and looking at the camera. There are large, colorful artworks in the background.

Devan Shimoyama

Photo by Joshua Franzos