Ria Brodell: Devotion

DEFINITION OF DEVOTION FROM MERRIAM-WEBSTER’S DICTIONARY

1. religious fervor, piety; an act of prayer or private worship
2. the act of dedicating something to a cause, enterprise, or activity; the fact or state of being ardently dedicated and loyal

Ria Brodell (b. 1977) disrupts traditional narratives and offers multifaceted ways to experience the concept of devotion. While Brodell’s art stems from personal experience, the works in this exhibition allow for a nuanced rumination on gender and sexuality from both historical and contemporary contexts. The exhibition includes works from the artist’s series, Butch Heroes and The Handsome & The Holy.

Butch Heroes presents highly detailed paintings of historical subjects who challenged gender norms. The paintings incorporate the structure of Catholic prayer cards; the artist’s aesthetic approach is deeply informed by a Catholic upbringing. These meticulous paintings are accompanied by scholarly documentation of the subjects portrayed.

In explaining the motivations of an earlier series, The Handsome & The Holy, the artist writes, “I am interested in the play between queer desire and the construction of gender identity as seen alongside my religious upbringing. This series of work attempts to catalog the influential, yet seemingly paradoxical, figures in my personal history.”

Featuring new and recent work by Brodell, this exhibition recontextualizes devotional imagery in the permanent collection of the Cornell Fine Arts Museum. Most significantly, Ria Brodell: Devotion allows for complex readings of gender in historic terms and through a religious framework. This exhibition marks the artist’s first solo presentation at a museum.

– Text from booklet published by Cornell Fine Arts Museum