First solo exhibition of Luan Joy Sherman

May 26- June 10, 2018

The Annex at Little Berlin, 2430 Coral Street, Philadelphia PA, 19125

Little Berlin is pleased to present the first solo exhibition by Brooklyn-based artist Luan Joy Sherman. Titled HOMECOMING, the upcoming Annex show presents works inspired by an 11 month period, when the artist managed memory loss and the effects of post-operative cognitive dysfunction, resulting from two consecutive surgeries in 2016. During this time, Luan revisited sites from his childhood, retracing his steps to understand where he came from, how he came to be, and who he is relative to who he was. The sculptures, objects, and videos on view in HOMECOMING examine origin and ‘home’, masculinity, transition, queer & trans bodies, and the impact of time, location, and identity on memory as well as reality.

What does it mean to come from a place? To be ‘of’ that thing?

The artwork and objects in HOMECOMING move across media and dimension, consisting of tables, blankets, pillows, and furnishings: household objects we depend on for stability and comfort. Reconfigured and re-contextualized, these objects are available for examination and engagement. Sherman’s personal excavation process will be on display in the form of writings, drawings, printed images, rope, ocean debris, parking tickets, stickers, and trash, compiled during a residency at SPACE Gallery, located in his birthplace of Portland, Maine. His video works also reference this place of origin and create a bridge for the past to engage the present.

How to: Trans People

How To: Trans People, 2018  is an interactive work that addresses the notion of the artist as a spectacle, as well as the reality of trans people as spectacles in contemporary politics and public life. I’m present as the subject of the work, but I am not the trans person the viewer imagines or expects to see. I appear to be cis and through our interactions, the “discovery” of my “true identity”, as both the artist and a trans person, always comes as a distracting surprise. -Luan Joy Sherman

This work is a reference to Adrian Piper’s My Calling Card, 1986, where the artist handed out cards in social settings to call attention to inappropriate racist/sexist behavior and address the common misunderstanding of her as a light-skinned, white-passing, black woman. Luan’s interactive work will be given to every viewer who enters the space.

Luan Joy Sherman (b. 1993), is a queer, trans male artist living in Brooklyn, NY. He works with embroidery, photography, sculpture, performance, video, and sound, to explore gender, queer theory, and body politics. He has attended residencies at The Chautauqua School of Art (2014), Black Mountain School (2016), School of the Alternative (2017), ACRE (2017), and was most recently the Artist In Residence at SPACE Gallery (2018). He is an active member of the School of the Alternative in Black Mountain, NC and has served as faculty for the past two years. He graduated from The Savannah College of Art and Design in 2015 with a B.F.A. in Painting and Art History and will begin his Masters of Fine Arts in Sculpture at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in August 2018.

For further questions please contact the artist, Luan Joy Sherman or the curator Terrill Warrenburg