My work opposes the legislature's strategy to weaponize trans rights, pushing a fascist agenda threatening everyone's privacy and autonomy. The media intentionally strips trans narratives of nuance and pleasure- qualities that define humanity. By controlling the viewer’s access and making seeing an active process in my work, I invite the audience to the joy that comes from opacity. I use silkscreen to create variations in matrixes. Pattern carries a history that I reconfigure physically, bringing in the infinite potential of past and future realities. New ways of seeing and relating are a way to invite a more welcoming future. Not only for transexuals, but for all of us as we navigate a global shift in privacy, information, and access to truth as a collective.
Leonard Reidelbach is an artist, educator, and organizer living in San Francisco. Group and solo exhibitions include CUBE Space Gallery, Berkeley Arts Center, Adobe Backroom, Root Division, Kala, and Liminal Space. He was a recipient of the Murphy and Cadogan Contemporary Art Award and participated in Recology’s Artist in Residence Program. Reidelbach holds an MFA in Visual Art at San Francisco State University (2023), where he was a co-founding member of the Art Student Union. He holds a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art and completed an apprenticeship program at the Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia. He is a current fellow with Lucas Arts Residency (2023-2026) and a graduate fellow at the Headlands Center for the Arts (2023-2024).
social: @justhavefunandbeyrself