Sister Sour Qween
Oil on canvas
37in x 56in
*Available for Pick up at the gallery and Delivery within 50 miles.
Shipping estimates are available upon request.
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."
About the Artwork: Sister Sour Qween, formerly Novice Guard Michio Bukkake, belongs to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a nationwide charity organization of drag nuns. Currently they are sanctuaried at the Kentucky Fried Sisters in Lexington. Since its founding in 1979, the Sisters have raised over a million dollars for LGBTQ+ causes. Their street performances use humorous personas and satirical aesthetics to challenge the hypocrisy of religious based hate speech. For Louisvile Pride, Sister Sour Qween worked on a twenty foot long motivational banner that was wheeled in front of far-right extremists protesting gay rights. Parade goers filled the banner with handwritten notes about the positive feelings they had towards themselves. With loud music and boisterous personalities, the Sisters drown out the message of hate! And when confronted with conservatives at Pride events who shout out-of-context bible passages from megaphones, the Sisters will read the bible back to them!