Abstract Drag Portrait by Max Markwald

About the Artist: Max Markwald (He/Him/His) uses large-format oil paintings to highlight queer voices and document his gender transition. Since graduating from the University of Akron, Myers School of Art, in the Fall of 2016, he has had fifteen solo shows in the Northeast Ohio region, including exhibitions at Bay Arts, Akron Soul Train, and Massillon Museum. During an artist talk for his 2021 solo exhibition at the McDonough Museum of Art, Markwald reflected upon why he avoided the label Queer Artist for so long, saying, "Maybe it's because queer still has that bitter taste of a word I was taught not to say." Markwald now speaks openly about his struggles as a transgender man, such as being denied healthcare, denied health insurance, harassed in public, and threatened his job. In his statement, Markwald embraces his identity by saying: "I take on the label, queer artist, not as a stopping point, but rather, as a way of looking at a system that does not recognize my existence and saying: You don't get to tell me what that word means anymore."